Code AEON
by TheShredDoctor
Summary: AU. The butterfly effect; the idea that the smallest of changes can lead to much greater and more far reaching consequences. After a different series of events occur on Kaminejima, Zero's identity is revealed to those he is trying to keep it a secret from. But, as always, the man of miracles has a contingency plan for everything.
1. Adumbration

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**Chapter 1: Adumbration**

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A groan escaped Kallen's lips as she slowly came to. She immediately regretted her decision to do so, as she found her mouth full of sand the second she opened it. She instantly sat bolt upright, frantically spluttering out the sand, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the sun overhead.

As her vision became accustomed to the intense light, she surveyed her surroundings; taking note of the pristine white beach she was on, and the rolling blue ocean and lush verdant forest on either side. For a moment, she was reminded of her trip with Naoto when she was much younger to Okinawa. It couldn't be Okinawa of course; the beaches were far too free of noisy tourists, but the environment was similar. Perhaps she was on one of the many islands in the Ryukyu archipelago. If that was the case; she was still in Japan somewhere.

Stretching her aching muscles, she tried to remember how she appeared on the deserted beach. She recalled capturing Suzaku and his Lancelot in the Gefjun disturber field they had set up for him; how Zero had cornered the honorary Britannian Knightmare pilot, and how the Britannian military parked their flying gunship above the two, ready to fire...

She pursed her lips and scrunched up her eyebrows in intense concentration as she struggled to recall what happened immediately after that. Letting out a frustrated growl when she ended up calling a blank, Kallen clutched her head and fell to her knees.

"Calm down, Kallen," She whispered to herself, "You'll be no use to Zero if you lose your head now. Just sort this out logically; you're on an island, and you have no idea how you got here. Maybe Zero's here too. If you can find him, things will be a lot easier; he'll be able to figure a way off of this rock. If you can't find him..." she trailed off, sweeping her gaze across the nearby treeline.

A growl from her stomach interrupted her thoughts. Glancing down at her offending body part, she realized that it had been a while since she had last eaten. That thought, combined with the fact that she had no clue as to just how long she had been laying on the beach, made her come to the decision to find something to eat.

As she walked towards the trees, she gave her armpits a sniff. Scrunching her nose in disgust at the smell, she murmured, "Maybe I should find a stream and wash up first."

The sudden rustling of leaves to her right put her instantly on her guard. Reaching into the pocket of the jacket of her Black Knights uniform, she extracted her pouch knife, readying the blade. Crouching low as she skirted the spot she had heard the noise come from, she prepared to strike as soon anything emerged from the trees.

A flash of pink entered her field of vision, and she pounced. Tackling the figure that had exited the trees, she brought her knife to the throat of the person below her. Pale violet eyes, wide in shock stared up at her as she as she felt her own narrow in recognition.

That face; how could she not recognized it? It had been all over the news for the past month. Gripping her knife, she pressed the sharp edge of the blade against her captive's skin, drawing a thin trickle of blood. She watched with grim satisfaction as the face of Euphemia Li Britannia contorted into an expression of terror.

The fear didn't last however, as the princess took on a countenance of determination.

"You're the ace of the Black Knights; the one who pilots the red Knightmare frame," the princess said, staring up at Kallen. "I saw you on Shikine."

"Yeah," Kallen growled, "That's me."

A relieved smile spread slowly across Euphemia's face. "Then please," she said, "Before you kill me, can you please tell me one thing? Zero; is he Lelouch?"

Kallen made a noise similar to that of someone who was being strangled as an image of her dark haired classmate entered her mind; the very person she had once suspected of being Zero. "Lamperouge," she whispered, not realizing she had voiced her question out loud.

Relief visibly filled Euphemia as tears leaked down her cheeks. "So he is alive," She said, "Thank goodness."

With a growl, Kallen stood, heaving Euphemia to her feet along with her. "Listen, puppet princess," Kallen snarled, slamming the pink haired girl into the trunk of a nearby tree, "I'm not telling you anything about Zero, even if you drop the names of my classmates that Suzaku's no doubt told you-,"

"Suzaku?" The princess gasped, interrupting the redhead, "He's your classmate? Lelouch too? I wonder why Suzaku never told me."

"Shut it!" Kallen snapped, roughly shaking the girl before her.

Looking slightly crestfallen, Euphemia spoke, despite Kallen's orders. "Please; is Lelouch Zero?"

"What's it to you?" Kallen hissed, attempting to sound as uncaring as possible to the Britannian girl.

In her own mind, however, she found herself trying to discern the answer to the princess' question. Kallen had suspected Lelouch immediately following the Shinjuku incident, and his explanation for his comment when she had cornered him didn't quite sit right with her. However, Zero had contacted her while Lelouch was in her presence; it couldn't be him.

Her thoughts then wandered to the meeting between the Black Knights and Taizo Kirihara of the Kyoto House; how C.C. had impersonated Zero then. Was it possible she had done so before? It wouldn't have been hard to use a voice changer, or perhaps even a recording of Lelouch's voice over the phone. Had C.C. been acquainted with Zero that early on?

Kallen was snapped out of her reverie when Euphemia spoke; answering the question Kallen had asked her, "I just want to know where my brother is."

"Your... brother?" the half-Japanese girl breathed. Every joint in her body seemed to weaken simultaneously, forcing her slackened fingers to involuntarily drop her knife.

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Lelouch narrowed his eyes, bringing the gun in his hand up to point directly at its target. Before him stood Kururugi Suzaku, who glared at him defiantly.

"Zero," the Japanese man spat; the venom in his voice was palpable.

'Suzaku,' Lelouch mentally growled. He cursed his trembling fingers as they ghosted over the trigger of the weapon in his hand.

The exiled prince didn't want to hurt his friend, but if it meant the difference between escape and capture, he would have no choice. A bullet to the foot would suffice to slow his opponent down without mortally wounding him. The Britannian military provided enough training in first aid that Suzaku would be able to stave off any bleeding from the wound and keep it from getting infected.

Before he could react, however, the dark haired Britannian found himself toppling over backwards when Suzaku lunged at him. Lelouch grunted in pain as he was flipped over; his chest pressed harshly into the hard, rocky ground. He then found his arm being forcibly twisted in an unnatural angle behind his back.

Having to choose between keeping a hold on his gun and having his shoulder dislocated, he picked the less painful of the two options and let go. He let out a reflexive sigh in relief when he felt the firm grip on his arm relinquish. The relief was short-lived, however, when her felt the muzzle of his gun dig into his spine, squarely between his shoulder blades.

"The mask," Suzaku growled, "Take it off."

Slowly, Lelouch brought his hands up to the sides of his helmet. A mechanical whir was heard as he disengaged the seal that kept the helmet firmly secure around his head. Suzaku, who was apparently growing impatient with Lelouch's slow movements, swatted away the gloved hands that held onto the mask, and with a swift tug, pulled the helmet off.

Lelouch then found himself being violently flipped over onto his back. His eyes locked onto Suzaku's as they widened in recognition and shock. Before Lelouch could say anything, the Japanese man standing over him brought his fist up over his head. With a grunt of exertion, Suzaku brought his fist down into Lelouch's face. The violet eyed teen registered a brief flash of pain, and then his world went dark.

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A small fire crackled to life on the beach, slowly growing to engulf the pile of wooden shavings Kallen had carved from a stick with her knife. Carefully, she added small sticks to the flame as kindling until the fire grew large enough that she was able to add larger branches for a controlled burn.

Picking up a fish she had caught and gutted earlier that day and skewering it with a stick she had carved a sharp point into, she held the fish above the fire to cook it.

"It smells delicious," Euphemia said cheerfully, inhaling the aroma of the roasting fish. She sat on the other side of the fire from Kallen; her wrists tied together with one of the sleeves of Kallen's Black Knights jacket that the redhead had cut with her trusty pocket knife.

"I didn't say you could talk," Kallen grunted.

"Then gag me if you must," Euphemia replied, staring defiantly at her captor.

Kallen mentally gave the princess a round of applause, albeit grudgingly, for her nerve. "Do you want to eat?" Kallen asked, "Because I can quite happily let you go hungry."

"Do as you must," the pink haired girl replied, turning away from the Knightmare pilot.

Pulling the fish she was cooking away from the fire, she prodded it with her finger. "Should be cooked enough," she muttered, before taking the fish off of the stick and tossing into the princess' lap.

"I thought you were happy to let me go hungry," Euphemia said, watching the half-Japanese girl place a second fish on the end of her cooking stick.

Kallen shrugged. "I need you alive long enough to bring you back to Zero," she said. "I can't have you starve to death. A hostage is only valuable if they're alive."

"It's not even been a day," Euphemia replied, daintily raising an eyebrow, "I highly doubt I'd starve to death so quickly."

"Just eat," Kallen snapped, turning her gaze towards the sizzling fish.

Silence reigned over the makeshift camp as Kallen directed her attention to cooking, while Euphemia struggled to pick her way through the scaly skin of her meal with her bound hands. Kallen, meanwhile, had decided her fish was cooked enough, and began to dig in, aided by her knife.

After eating her fill, Kallen tossed away the bones and cast a glance over to the princess, who was still struggling with her meal. A resigned sigh escaped the redhead's lips as she slowly stood and approached the pink haired Britannian.

Pulling the limp fish out of Euphemia's fingers, Kallen plopped down in the sand beside her and began to shuck off the scales with her blade. Upon finishing the task, she thrust the fish back into the princess' hands.

A few minutes later, after Euphemia's fish had been consumed, the pink haired girl stared into the fire; a faint smile gracing her lips. "You know," she said slowly, "this is the first time I've had fish in a while. Sister Cornelia doesn't like fish, and neither does mother, so our maids never served it."

"How awful," Kallen drawled, rolling her eyes.

Ignoring the half-Japanese girl, Euphemia continued, "The only time I ever had it was whenever I went over to Aries Villa. The cooks there made the most delicious herb crusted Cornish brill fillets. It was always Lelouch's favourite."

"Still going on about Lelouch, are you?" Kallen scowled. The mention of her classmate sent her into a worse mood than she was in already.

The entire day, Euphemia had regaled Kallen, who was very much uneager to listen, with stories of her childhood with Lelouch and Nunally. By the time the sun had begun to set, Kallen was forced to acquiesce that the possibility existed that Lelouch Lamperouge was indeed royal, as Euphemia so adamantly stated. The princess simply knew too much about Lelouch; his mannerisms, his personality, for her to have simply been told by Suzaku. She knew from first-hand experience.

If she was right about something so difficult to believe, such as the Ashford Student Council Vice President and his paraplegic sister being an exiled prince and princess, could she be right about the identity of Zero?

Kallen immediately shook her head sharply to clear her mind of such thoughts. There was no way; the Lelouch she knew was much too apathetic to do something so drastic as to don a mask and lead a rebel army against the might of the Holy Britannian Empire.

And Zero was far too charismatic of an entity to bear such an unimpressive identity as that of a high school student; he was _Zero_ for crying out loud! The existence of someone with his extreme strategic brilliance and indomitably commanding persona was almost unthinkable. He would almost have to be a god; a king, or at the very least, some form of royalty... _damn it_.

Letting out a huff of irritation at her own mind, Kallen took her knife in one hand and the remnants of her Black Knights jacket in the other. With a few furious motions of her knife, she took her frustration out on the jacket, cutting it into strips of black fabric.

She then grabbed the princess by the wrists and began using the strips of cloth to tie her hostage up more securely. She then took the longest strip she had and tied one end around her waist, fastening the other end to the bindings on Euphemia's arms.

"So that you can't wander off," the redhead explained, noting the questioning expression in the princess' face. "Now let's get to sleep. The sooner I can get back to Zero, and be rid of you, the better, and searching for a way off this rock will be a lot easier when the sun is up."

As the two women lay in the sand, trying to find a comfortable position in which to sleep, Euphemia turned to look at the redhead; her face barely illuminated by the dying embers of the fire.

"I never did get your name," the princess said quietly.

"Kallen," her captor grunted irritably, "now shut it and go to sleep."

"Kallen," Euphemia repeated, a smile gracing her lips. "I'm glad my brother has someone like you to protect him," she said, before closing her eyes as sleep took her.

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"Why?" That was the question on Suzaku's lips the moment Lelouch finally awoke.

With a grunt of pain, he slowly sat up from the dirt he sat in. Reaching up a hand to his still tender nose, he felt something wet and sticky. Pulling his hand away from his face, he found blood on the tips of his fingers. Wiping the crimson liquid off on his sleeve, Lelouch turned his gaze to the Japanese man in white. Suzaku immediately turned his head away, refusing to make eye contact. Instead, he merely glowered at a nearby tree.

Suzaku's frown deepened when Lelouch didn't speak. "You've killed a lot of people, Lelouch," he said quietly, his eyes tracing the furrows of the rough bark. "You've reignited a war that ended years ago. There was peace for seven years, Lelouch, and now men and women are picking up arms; men and women with families. Innocent people are dying, and I want to know why you're making them do so." Suzaku turned his head to stare at Lelouch; his eyes brimming with emotion; anger, betrayal, sadness. "Shirley was devastated when her father died. Do you remember how he died, Lelouch? In a mudslide that you created! Or have you forgotten about her; about Shirley? How many more families like hers have you torn apart?"

Lelouch deliberately stood, fighting off a wave of nausea as the blood rushed from his head."Do not dare accuse me of such things!" he shouted. Suzaku's words pierced inside of him like a sword. "Not a day goes by that I don't remember; that her face that day doesn't haunt my nightmares. But whenever I do, I remind myself of one thing.

"You have heard of the ancient Japanese legend of the Senbazuru, have you not?" he ask, schooling his features into his stone-faced Zero persona. Suzaku merely watched him in silence. "'Anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes will be granted one wish'. It was Nunally who told me about this legend. Do you know what her wish was? Her wish was for the world to be a gentler place."

Suzaku immediately sprung to his feet. "And what do you think she would say if she knew just how much blood your hands are stained with?" he snapped. "Do you really think violence is the way to a gentler world? You're just propagating the cycle-,"

"Shinjuku!" Lelouch snapped, effectively cutting off the Japanese man. "Do you know what happened there? Do you know the truth, and not the censored and heavily modified garbage that the military fed to the public? Because I do. I watched as Britannian soldiers slaughtered innocent people; families with children. Not once did they question their orders. Had I not intervened, thousands would have died. And you stand there, telling me that there was peace for seven years? The war never ended; it was merely shielded away from public view."

Suzaku growled. "Maybe you're trying to save lives; maybe you're trying to grant Japan its freedom," he said, "but your way is not the way to do it. You're merely giving Britannia more reasons to hate the Japanese. What do you think will happen if you fail? Things will get worse; way worse. Put away the mask, Lelouch; help me show Britannia the good of the Japanese people. Without the bloodshed."

Lelouch shook his head. "I can't do that, Suzaku. As you say; my hands are stained with blood. If I walk away now, I will have stained them for nothing. I must continue until either my goals have been achieved, or I am dead."

Suzaku sighed dejectedly. "Nothing I say will divert you from your path, and nothing you say will make me join you," he said. "I guess for now, we'll have to call a truce; at least until we can find a way off this island. If we work together, that task will be much easier."

The corners of Lelouch's lips tugged into a smirk. "Unilaterally deciding to enter a pact of cooperation with the most wanted fugitive in all of Area 11. That normally isn't what one expects from a knighted soldier of Britannia?"

Suzaku frowned at his friend. "Right now, you are Lelouch, my friend," he explained. "However, do not expect me to pull my punches if I meet you on the battlefield. Zero is my enemy. There is a distinction between the two."

"I'm surprised," the violet eyed teen admitted, "although, I am grateful. Well then; if we are to work together, where do you propose we start?"

"Well, the human body's most important need is water," Suzaku said, surveying the area, "so I say we try to find a stream of some sort, since we don't know how long we'll be stranded."

"Excellent plan," Lelouch replied, nodding towards where the beach could be seen through the trees. "In that case, I suggest we head to the beach, since all water flows to the ocean."

As Lelouch turned and began walking in the direction he had indicated, he watched out of the corner of his eyes as Suzaku still clutched the pistol he had taken from Lelouch in his hand.

'_Though he trusts Lelouch, he's prepared in the event Zero emerges. Troublesome, but logical thinking on his part_,' the exiled prince thought, silently appraising his friend's tactic. '_Offer one hand, but arm the other.'_

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"Get up."

Euphemia groaned as Kallen incessantly jabbed her in the ribs to rouse her.

The princess was slow to comply, stifling a yawn as she propped herself up on her elbows. "What?" she murmured in confusion.

"Time to wake up," Kallen persisted, untying the makeshift rope that attached her to her hostage.

Rubbing her still heavy eyelids proved to be difficult with bound hands, so instead, Euphemia settled for blinking rapidly in order to fully awaken. Peering around camp, she noted that the sky was a dark grey. Just over the horizon, where the sky met the ocean, the sun's rays had begun to creep into view.

"There's someone else here," Kallen said, wrenching Euphemia's attention to her captor. She followed the redhead's gaze across the small bay along the coast of which they had camped. A flickering flame could be seen burning on the beach there; a campfire!

"I'm going to scout it out. And, since I have no other option, you're coming with me," Kallen said. "Just remember, I have a knife. If you so much as make a sound without my okay, I'll introduce it to your ribcage. Do I make myself clear?"

At the princess' nod, the half Japanese woman roughly grabbed her by the arm and began marching along the coast. As promised, Euphemia stayed quiet as they walked, and they soon found themselves peering over a large boulder at the unknown camp.

It came as a shock to Kallen when her eyes fell on the back of a very familiar, immaculate costume. She'd recognize that golden embroidery anywhere.

Zero sat on a log, his back towards the two girls. At his feet in the sand was his mask, seemingly forgotten by the revolutionary. His tall collar, however, blocked their view of his face. All they could see of his head from their angle was a tuft of black hair.

Across from Zero sat someone that both girls were quick to recognize. "Suzaku!" Euphemia cried out; all previous threats forgotten upon sighting her knight. The Honorary Britannian immediately glanced up at the voice.

"Shit," Kallen muttered, extracting her knife from her pocket. With a flick of the wrist, she unsheathed the blade and pressed it harshly against the throat of the pinkette.

Reacting immediately to Kallen's aggression, Suzaku stood; a gun in hand. In one swift motion, he grabbed Zero by the arm, forced him to stand, and pressed the muzzle of the gun against the revolutionary's head. The iconic mask lay forgotten in the sand.

Kallen felt her entire body go numb as her eyes locked on to violet. Had her mind not gone blank, and her throat not turned dry at that very moment, she may have shouted out the very name that was ringing in her mind in shock.

Euphemia did. "Lelouch!" she cried, sounding very relieved.

Said person grimaced at the situation he now found himself in.

"Kallen?" Suzaku choked out, his eyes locking on to the flaming red hair of his classmate before drifting over his princess.

At Suzaku's voice, Kallen's mind snapped back into gear. "Put the gun down," She snapped, tightening the grip on her knife.

For now, she would shove the idea of Zero being Lelouch to the back of her mind. She could question him later; right now, she needed to figure out a way to get away from the Japanese man. He was a skilled fighter; that much was certain from the many times they had tangled in the Guren and the Lancelot. As confident as she was in her own ability, she didn't want to risk getting into a fistfight with him. He was at least as good as she, and outside of their Knightmare frames, he had the advantage over her in both height and weight.

"Drop it," she repeated, "or I carve a grin in her throat!"

Quickly assessing the situation, Lelouch whispered to Suzaku, "Do as she says."

"Can it," Suzaku hissed back. "Right now, you're Zero, and I'm not listening to you."

"You're wrong," Lelouch replied. "Right now, I'm speaking as Lelouch. I know you won't kill me; not in front of Euphemia. Kallen, however, has no such reservations about her hostage."

Glaring once sharply at Lelouch, Suzaku turned his sight towards the blade that was pressing against Euphemia's wind pipe. A thin line of blood was barely noticeable against the princess' delicate, pale flesh.

"On three, we trade hostages," Suzaku called out, mentally slapping himself for negotiating with the terrorists. Regardless of his personal feelings abut the Black Knights, he had a duty as Euphemia's knight to protect her, and if that meant cutting a deal with the redhead, he would.

"On three," Kallen called out; "One, two..." When she arrived on three, she watched as Suzaku released his hostage. Seeing that he had held up his end of the bargain, she allowed the princess to go. Euphemia immediately began sprinting in Suzaku's direction as Lelouch paused long enough to collect his helmet from its spot on the ground before striding purposefully towards the Guren's pilot.

As the two freed captives drew towards to their respective protectors, Euphemia looked up at Lelouch; a watery smile on her face. As they eventually neared one another, the princess threw herself at her long-lost brother.

"Lelouch," she whispered, tears streaking down her face, "You're alive."

Without a hint of hesitation, the dark haired teen immediately wrapped his arms around the girl as she began to openly sob. They stood like that for several minutes; Euphemia's tears soaking the black, purple, and gold jacket of Lelouch's Zero outfit. Suzaku and Kallen stood at the sidelines; all intensity of the moment forgotten as they looked on.

An uncomfortable cough from Kallen broke the endearing atmosphere of the moment, and Euphemia extricated herself from Lelouch's embrace.

"I must go, Euphie," Lelouch told the princess softly.

Euphemia's gaze shot up to Lelouch's face in alarm. "No!" she shouted, "I just found out you're alive after seven years of thinking you were dead; I'm not leaving you now!"

Lelouch sighed softly. "I'm sorry," he said, casting a firm, but pointed look at the pinkette.

"Fine," the princess murmured after a moment of silence. "But I'm not losing you. I want to see you again."

"That would be ill-advised," Lelouch replied. "If anyone were to follow you, they may learn that Nunally and I are still alive and we would then be forced into the spotlight and returned to Britannia. As Zero, I simply cannot have that much attention on myself, and it would stress out Nunally to no end."

"Nunally's alive as well?" Euphemia chirped happily, "Oh, I'm so glad. I want to see her again too."

Grabbing hold of Euphemia's shoulders, Lelouch spoke sternly. "You can't. Not yet at least. Maybe once I hang up my mantle of Zero, but only then. Besides, a terrorist is no company for a princess to keep."

With a teary nod, right after another enveloping hug, Euphemia finally acquiesced. The two siblings then parted ways; the princess going to her knight, and the revolutionary to the captain of his personal guard.

"Let us be off, Q-1," Lelouch said as he approached his subordinate, "lest Sir Kururugi decide to pursue us; though I doubt that will happen." With a fluid motion, he slid his helmet over his head.

"Yes... sir," Kallen murmured.

As they walked away, Lelouch watched the redhead out of the corner of his eye. She slouched as she walked, and her face held an expression of... sadness? Betrayal? He couldn't tell for certain what she was thinking, but at the very least, she wasn't attacking him.

Kallen's mind flooded with thoughts; each overwhelming the others in an unrelenting cacophony. What was she to think? Zero; the man she had followed with undying devotion had turned out to be her classmate, and that classmate had turned out to be a prince of the very nation she fought to destroy.

What was his agenda? Was he using the Black Knights merely for his own personal gain? Was it all merely a means to usurp the throne? What of Japan? Did he even care about the Japanese people? What of her? Was she just a pawn in his game? She was his ace pilot; the captain of his personal guard; were they merely all concessions and fancy titles to bait her into allegiance?

So wrapped up in her thoughts was she, that she nearly collided with him when he stopped suddenly.

"We shall set up camp here," he said.

Glancing around, Kallen realized that they were far away from where they had left Suzaku and Euphemia. Just how far, she wasn't certain, as she hadn't been paying attention during their trek, but the beach was no longer visible. They were now in a small clearing, surrounded by the trees of the forest that covered the majority of the island.

The masked man turned to look at her. "Q-1, I'll leave you with the task of collecting firewood, while I search for a source of-,"

"Cut the act, Lelouch," She interrupted; her voice nearly a whisper. It was loud enough though, as Zero remained quiet. "Please; take of that mask."

"Kallen," Lelouch said, making to approach the redhead.

"No!" she snapped, drawing her knife and pointing it threateningly at the dark haired teen. "Take off that mask, Damnit. Look me in the eye and tell me why I should continue taking orders from you! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand; Britannian Prince!"

There was an ephemeral hesitancy in Lelouch's movements as he brought his hand up to the helmet and removed it. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it in Kallen's direction. With a solid _thunk_, it connected with the ground, rolling until it came to rest at the redhead's feet.

"Sit down, Kallen," he said quietly, "I think it's time I told you everything."

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"_To lead and to fulfill the plebeians' desires, to corrupt and subvert_

_I need but to despise the very substance of truth_

_And define what is right"_

-**Lyrics from '**_**A.E.O.N.**_**' by Sybreed**

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**So there's the first chapter. Yay! Let me know how I did. Please? I love reviews. Just make sure that if your review is negative, let me know specifically why it is that you feel that way, so I can improve my writing. Please don't simply say "it sucks."**

**Also, before anyone comments on it, I want to address both Kallen's and Suzaku's reactions to discovering Zero's identity. As you should have noticed, their reactions were far tamer than the reactions in canon. I have an explanation for both characters.**

**First of all; the timing was far different for Lelouch's reveal. For Suzaku, he learned Zero's identity both after he had killed Euphemia, and after Suzaku had been informed of geass. Not only is Euphemia still alive in my story at this point, but she was not forced to commit a massacre in the SAZ. Suzaku's dislike of Zero is far less than his avowed hatred in the anime after the SAZ event.**

**As for Kallen, she was given some time to digest the idea of Lelouch being Zero from Euphemia's suggestions. In the anime, it was very suddenly forced upon her, and she was understandably in shock. Combine that with the fact that she was already feeling a sense of betrayal in the first place when Zero suddenly left in the middle of the battle for Tokyo, and you have her canonical reaction. I feel that in the events laid out in this story thus far, she would have at least given him a chance to explain, albeit while threatening bodily harm to him. **

**Note: I'm not setting up a strict schedule as to when I'll be updating this story. I simply write when the inspiration and desire strikes me. This goes for all of my fanfics, if you happen to be following any of the other ones of mine.  
**


	2. Escape

**Holy crap, you guys are awesome. As I'm writing this, the first chapter has received eighteen reviews within 24 hours. Eighteen! That's more than my fanfic "The Illusionist" received, and it's a Harry Potter fanfic. This story is even being followed by one of my personal favourite Code Geass fanfic authors. **

**So, thank you guys, you're all awesome. Hopefully I can keep all of your interests with this story.**

**On a side note; I'd like to mention that, recently, I went to the Calgary Comic Expo where I purchased a few things from Code Geass, including the entire series on DVD. One of the other things I bought, I figured you guys may get a kick out of. Instead of simply telling you, I'd rather show you:  
imgur com/gallery/XMZhd6Z (replace the ' ' with '.')**

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**Chapter 2: Escape**

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"Are you alright?" Suzaku asked for the fourth time in the past fifteen minutes as he carefully checked Euphemia over for any sign of injury.

"Suzaku," Euphemia said, a small smile gracing her lips as the Japanese man carefully inspected her wrists.

"There're marks here where you were tied up; you might end up with bruises here," He said, trailing his finger across the indentations left on her arms from tight bindings that had fastened them together. His eyes then moved up to her neck, scrutinizing the barely noticeable cut from where Kallen had held her blade. "Does your throat hurt? We'll have to get some ointment on it as soon as we get back to Area 11. For now I'll boil some water-,"

"Suzaku," Euphemia repeated.

"Yes?" the knight asked, immediately snapping to attention at being addressed.

Euphemia felt herself frowning when Suzaku pulled his hands away from her, but her smile returned upon seeing the concerned look in his eyes. "I'm fine," she said mirthfully.

"Yes, your highness," he replied, giving her a rigid bow.

"We're far away from civilization; there's no need to be formal," the princess said gently. "You can call me Euphie when we're in private. Now, I'm tired and wish to get some sleep before it gets too bright out."

"Of course, yo... Euphie," Suzaku replied. He watched as the girl lowered herself to the ground and lay down. "You're sleeping in the sand?" he asked in surprise.

Euphemia, who was now attempting to get comfortable on the ground, shrugged. "Where else would I sleep?" she asked, looking up at her knight.

Suzaku pursed his lips as he surveyed the area for a better location for sleeping. Finding none, and seeing that she was safety above the high-tide mark on the beach, he answered, "I don't know. It's just that-,"

"That I'm a princess, and the ground is an unfitting place to sleep for a princess?" Euphemia interrupted. "I'm not as fragile as I look, Suzaku."

With a small chuckle, the knight nodded. "I know, Euphie," he said. With that, he propped himself on a nearby piece of driftwood, silently swearing to keep vigil while his princess slept.

0-0-0-0-0

"So, let me get this straight," Kallen said, staring at Lelouch in disbelief, "Nunally is blind and in a wheelchair because your mother was shot? I don't see how that's even medically possible."

Lelouch, who sat across the camp from her scowled. "Not just because my mother was shot; Nunally was right there when it happened," he tried to explained. "A stray bullet ended up hitting Nunally in the attack, and it severed her spine below the waist. _That's_ why she's in a wheelchair.

"As for the sight thing, well, even I don't fully understand. I don't know much about biology beyond what they teach at Ashford. The doctors said it had to do with an overload of stress hormones damaging her occipital lobe; the part of the brain that processes signals from the eyes."

Kallen harrumphed. "Alright fine, let's say I buy your story. It still doesn't change the fact that you're Britannian, or that you kept your identity from me, even when I cornered you about it."

"When you cornered me," Lelouch said slowly, "You held me at knifepoint. Had I revealed my identity to you, would you have accepted it, or would you have killed me in order to keep your extracurricular activities a secret?"

"Only if you had no intention of keeping them secret," Kallen replied evenly. "And what about when you stopped me from assassinating Suzaku; was it just because he was your friend? Need I remind you that he's our enemy?"

Lelouch's eyes drifted to the trees, focusing on the general direction the Lancelot's pilot was in. "Whether you like it or not, Suzaku has become something of a hero to the Japanese people. They see one of their own; the personal knight of a princess of the empire. If word got out that he was assassinated by the Black Knights, then those people would turn against us. Without the support of the people, we are nothing. Besides, I seem to recall you being relieved that I was able to come up with a plan to fairly best him in battle on Shikinejima."

Kallen stood so abruptly, Lelouch nearly missed her movement. "I-I j-just," she stammered. "I wanted to be able to have a shot to prove I could best him in the Guren is all!" she snapped, doing everything she could to avoid eye contact with Lelouch.

The dark haired boy raised an eyebrow at the Knightmare pilot. "Despite the fact that the plan did not involve you interacting with the Lancelot in any way, shape, or form?" he asked; a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Kallen's face rapidly changed colours to match that of her hair. "Shut up!" she growled, glaring pointedly at the violet eyed teen before her. "You're still royalty," she said, quickly scrambling to change topics, "How do I know Zero isn't just some way for you to infiltrate the underground Japanese resistance for Britannia?"

Lelouch felt his eyebrow quirking questioningly for the second time in the past few minutes. Kallen wanted to roll her eyes; even she knew that her question sounded ridiculous.

"I killed Clovis," Lelouch said simply. "It wasn't easy for me to kill my own brother, but it needed to be done. I think that in and of itself is proof of my loyalty to the Black Knights."

"What about Euphemia?" Kallen asked. "You and she were sure hugging it out on the beach earlier."

"She is my sister," Lelouch answered. "After Nunally, she was the closest of my siblings, and she believed me to be dead. Tell me; what would you do if Naoto appeared before you, alive and well?"

Kallen struggled to come up with an answer, yet as much as she tried, she was unable to so.

Lelouch, taking Kallen's thoughtful silence as encouraging, continued. "I killed Clovis because he justified the slaughter in Shinjuku by calling its victims 'just elevens'; a crime for which he has paid. What crime has Euphemia committed? She even has a Japanese man as her personal knight."

Again, Kallen tried to come up with a comment; a scathing retort or a witty comeback. But, as before, she simply could not.

Silence enveloped the duo as Lelouch calmly waited for his ace pilot to speak. He had given her much to think about, and now she simply needed time to process it all. There was a fine balance required when negotiating with people, and forcing too much upon them could end up pushing them away.

If he managed to convince Kallen to remain in the Black Knights here and today, the conditions would be cleared, and it would be far easier to keep her loyalty in the event that the knowledge of his geass got out. Kallen had always been the most loyal of his followers; it was a well-known fact amongst the Black Knights. If even she were to abandon him, then he truly had no hope of keeping his allies.

Slowly, Kallen lifted her head to peer at Lelouch. "Alright," she whispered slowly, "You're Zero." Lelouch fought to keep the relief from showing on his face.

"Thank you, Q-1," he said, nodding sharply at her.

"In Shinjuku, all we had was a single Glasgow, and a handful of weapons we had managed to smuggle in from Russia. Now we've got our own stealth submarine," she said. "I'm able to see that all the progress we've made was thanks to you. However, if you expect me to follow orders, I have one condition."

"And what is that condition?" he asked, gesturing with his hand for her to continue.

"I want to know everything from now on," she replied, staring at him with a hard expression. "Before we go into a mission, I want to know your plans. I want to know your thoughts on every single detail. As of right now, I am effectively your right hand."

Lelouch held his breath as he contemplated his options. Having Kallen follow him around as closely as she proposed would make it very difficult for him to use his geass on anyone without her noticing. Perhaps if he told her...

'_No_,' he thought to himself. '_She'd either think I'm crazy or making up a bad joke. I can't even demonstrate my geass right now; she's immune._' Lelouch let out a sigh. For right now, he'd have to keep his geass a secret and hope his decision to do so didn't bite him in the ass.

"Very well," he said, extending his hand towards her. "I accept your condition."

Kallen glanced once at the hand being offered to her before turning her head up to scrutinize the face of the man who held it. Grasping his hand firmly with her own, she shook it.

As the two began constructing a proper camp, Kallen couldn't help but glance over at Lelouch every so often. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but something in the back of her mind told her it was not a good idea to let him out of her sight for too long. An ominous mood settled over her, and she couldn't help but feel that she had perhaps agreed to a deal with the devil.

0-0-0-0-0

"Hmmm," Shinichiro Tamaki hummed for the fifth time in the past three minutes; consternation apparent in his voice.

Having had enough of the sound, Kaname Ohgi, who sat on the other side of the small conference room on the Black Knight's submarine they occupied, turned to look at his fellow Black Knight. "What is it?" he snapped.

Tamaki look up from the laptop he had been carefully examining. "Ah, it's nothing," he quickly said, waving his hand dismissively.

"If it's nothing, then keep the noise down. I'm trying to concentrate on this paperwork," Ohgi said irritably. "With Zero missing, I'm the one who has to go through this requisition order from Kyoto House."

"Just order a bunch of Knightmare frames. We always need more of those," the younger of the two men said.

Ohgi sighed in frustration. "Yeah, but we also need energy fillers, spare parts, and ammo. We can't blow our entire budget on just Knightmares and not have anything to keep them operational. There has to be a balance."

"Alright, alright," Tamaki replied with a roll of his eyes. He then turned immediately back to the laptop screen he had been staring at for the past few minutes; silent once more.

Ohgi felt himself let out a sigh of relief as he was able to return to calculating costs undisturbed.

His relief evaporated when Tamaki let out another sound of dismay. Ohgi instantly stood and approached the other man, mentally chanting a mantra of 'I will not punch Tamaki in the face'.

"What is it?" he asked, glaring down at Tamaki, "And don't tell me it's nothing."

"Fine," the burgundy hair man murmured. "Tohdoh gave me the correspondence messages to go through, and one of them is from a Britannian noble who wants to meet with Zero in person to talk about giving the Black Knights some cash."

Ohgi brought his hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on from spending too much time listening to the other man. "Tamaki," he said, forcing his voice to not convey the annoyance he felt, "You know the protocol; if we get contacted by anyone we can't trust, asking to meet Zero, the answer is no."

Tamaki scowled. "Yeah, I know that!" he shouted, "Jeeze! Do you think I'm an idiot? No, what's bothering me is the fact that I think that we might actually be able to trust this guy. Look! He even signed his name!"

Ohgi bit his tongue so as to not answer in the affirmative to Tamaki's rhetorical question. He knew he was just feeling stressed between his workload doubling upon Zero's disappearance, and trying to figure out what the right thing to do would be, regarding the woman now living at his house.

Her decision to stay with him had wreaked havoc on his conscience. He knew the right thing to do was to figure out where she came from so that she could return, but truthfully, he had grown fond of her. Besides, when he had found her, she was unconscious, discarded at the shipping dock where one of the Black Knight's early scuffles with the Britannians had occurred. She had concluded, from his explanation of how he had found her, that whatever life she had had prior to that point, might not have been a very enjoyable one. Though he felt guilty for it, he agreed.

But that wasn't an issue for the time being, and taking his frustration out on Tamaki wouldn't help anyone.

Following Tamaki's finger to the line in the message that held the sender's name, he felt his jaw slacken. "Archive the message," was his instruction. "Zero will definitely want to see it when he gets back."

0-0-0-0-0

"There's someone else on the island."

Kallen's head whirled to face Lelouch. The sudden sound of his voice after a prolonged silence as they worked had taken her by surprised.

Lelouch, who had stopped mid-construction of a lean-to, had his head tilted to the sky. Following his example, Kallen abandoned her task of starting a fire in order to look up.

Just over the massive hill that dominated the island they were on, bright lights flitted across the rolling cloud cover in the sky. The lights were barely visible in contrast to the powerful rays that the cresting sun was spilling into the world, but they were definitely there.

The pair held still, examining the lights as they eventually dimmed and disappeared. Finally, Lelouch spoke.

"We're going to see what they were," he said, scooping up his mask from its spot on the ground beside him.

Kallen nodded, dropping the stack of firewood she had gathered. "What do we do if they're Britannians?" she asked, hurrying to catch up to Lelouch as he turned to exit their clearing with a dramatic sweep of his cape.

"If it is Britannians, then we will observe them from a distance," he answered before reattaching his helmet over his head. "Perhaps they will afford us an opportunity to commandeer a boat or an aircraft so that we may escape."

Kallen glared at the polished black surface that obscured his face from view. "Must you wear that?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered. "You may have learned my identity, but that does not mean that I am willing to allow anyone else in on the secret. Especially Britannia."

"And what if it's the Black Knights?" she asked. "Do you plan on lying to them?"

Lelouch stopped abruptly before turning to face the redhead completely. "Kallen," he said; his tone gentler than she was used to from the masked man. "You have known the members of the original group for much longer than I. Tell me; do you truly believe that Ohgi and the others would continue to follow me if they learned I was a Britannian Prince? You yourself took some convincing before you were able to trust me once again."

"I still don't trust you fully," Kallen snapped.

"Exactly," Zero replied, flourishing one of his hands. "If the Black Knights were to learn my true face, then the group would all but disintegrate overnight. Lelouch Lamperouge and Zero must, as far as the world may know, remain two separate entities."

"That's not really much of an option now that Suzaku knows," Kallen said, turning to glare in the direction she hoped the Japanese man was in. "As soon as he gets off of this island, Britannia will know."

She heard a chuckle escape from under Zero's helmet. "That won't be a problem, Q-1," the masked man stated, "I have full confidence that Suzaku will keep both our identities a secret."

"Oh?" Kallen asked, "And just what makes you say that?"

"He will do so, because Euphemia will ask him to," the man explained, picking up his pace once more. "Euphemia understands the undue stress the revelation of my own identity will cause both myself and Nunally; something she does not want."

"And you think Suzaku will do as she wishes?" Kallen probed.

Zero nodded. "He swore an oath of unquestioning loyalty when she knighted him. I'm 99.9% certain that he will comply."

"99.9?" Kallen repeated, "I'm not exactly comfortable with that .1%."

"You've gone up against far greater odds before and come out unscathed, Q-1," Zero replied simply.

There wasn't much Kallen could say in response to that, so she chose to remain quiet. A few minutes later, the duo emerged from the trees to find their path blocked by a tall, wide rock outcropping that jutted upwards, just over their heads, and seemed to stretch in either direction for a few hundred meters.

Approaching the small cliff, Zero grabbed hold of a handhold and attempted to haul himself up and over the lip of the ledge. He struggled for a few moments before his arms gave out and was forced to let go.

Taking a step backwards to examine the rocky projection, he said, "It seems we'll have to go around."

With a roll of her eyes, Kallen pushed past the caped individual and effortlessly scaled the stone wall. Silently thanking his mask for hiding his blush of embarrassment, Zero looked up at the redhead, who now perched atop the wall, smirking victoriously down at him.

"Well done, Q-1," he said. "Now help me up so that we may proceed."

Kallen chose that moment to make a show of examining her fingernails. "No," she said simply.

"No?" Zero mimed.

"No," Kallen confirmed. "I'll meet you on the other side. Go ahead and call this payback for lying to me about being Zero."

With that, the redhead stood and disappeared from view, leaving a loudly swearing Zero behind.

0-0-0-0-0

When Zero finally caught up to Kallen, nearly half an hour later, he was panting and out of breath, swearing to himself that he'd ensure Kallen would be put on janitorial duties for the next month once they returned.

"Ah, there you are," Kallen said non-chalantly, doing her best to imitate what Lelouch would say in such a situation. She had found a tall, shady tree against which to relax while waiting. "I was wondering if maybe you'd gotten lost."

Under the mask, Lelouch was able to instantly come up with a plethora of insults he wished to throw at her. He didn't, knowing that such behavior was unfitting of Zero, so instead he settled for simply scowling at the redhead. Having his helmet on meant that the gesture was lost on her, however.

"Shall we proceed?" Kallen asked, glancing down at the leader of the Black Knights; the very man who, at the moment, had doubled over to catch his breath.

The man merely replied by raising a single index finger; the universal signal to wait. A moment passed before the mask man's breathing returned to normal, and he was able to stand with his usual regal posture. Giving a nod to Kallen, he began leading her forwards, back on the trail to their intended target.

As they walked, Kallen was unable to restrain herself from taking pot-shots at the man before her. "You know, I never thought it was possible for someone to be as out of shape as you are," she called out. "I always figured you were faking it in gym class."

Was it the most mature thing to do? No, it wasn't, and she knew that, however, she still hadn't fully forgiven him, and thus, didn't feel too bad for getting a few insults in while it was just the two of them.

"You may want to fix that," she continued, noting gleefully how his fists clenched as she spoke. She was successfully getting under his skin. "Or don't," she said, "I mean, you are the leader of a rebel army, and you appear on an active battle field at least twice a week. I don't see how being able to run more than ten meters without fainting could possibly help someone in such a position at all."

"Quiet," Zero hissed suddenly.

Kallen grinned at her victory; she had annoyed Lelouch enough to get a response. "Aww; does the prince not like hearing-,"

She was cut off when a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. Preparing to shoot imaginary daggers at the masked man through her eyes, Kallen watched as he brought a single finger up to his mask, over the spot where she imagined his mouth ought to be underneath. The then removed his finger from his mask and pointed it through a gap in the trees.

Following his finger, Kallen realized what he was telling her to be quiet about. Barely a hundred meters away from their position was a small platoon of Britannian soldiers patrolling the beach. To the right of the soldiers, standing sentry on either side of what appeared to be a man-made cave carved out of a nearby rock face was a squad of Sutherlands, painted the distinctive blue used by the Britannian military.

Seeing that Kallen knew now to be quiet, Lelouch removed his hand from her mouth. Crouching low, the duo crept in for a closer look, using the trees for cover.

A frown worked its way onto Lelouch's face as they observed the soldiers. With Kallen right there, he couldn't use his Geass; she would undoubtably question why more than twenty soldiers spontaneously committed suicide. Even if he was alone, that would still leave the Knightmare pilots.

Kallen was a highly skilled fighter, but even she could not take down that many armed guards in such an open area with just the aid of a pocket knife.

As things were, Lelouch could not come up with an effective plan against the Britannians. Even if he could, what purpose would it serve? He had no idea if what was inside the cave was worth the risk, and he could see nothing nearby that would serve as a viable way off the island.

"Let us withdraw for now," He whispered to Kallen hoping that none of the soldiers were close enough to hear. He made a mental note to set up a system of hand signals between the two of them later.

Nodding, Kallen followed the costumed man away from the beach. When they were far enough away that there was no risk of being overheard, Kallen stopped to speak. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Until we know what is inside that cave, I only have one possible solution," Zero replied. "Theoretically, if we cut one of the soldiers off from the group, we could take them down and steal their personal radio. With it, we could contact our submarine."

"If it's is even in range," Kallen added.

Zero gave a single nod of the head. "Exactly," he replied. "There also exists the possibility that the call could be monitored, since it would be one of the military's frequencies we would have to use. For now I would prefer to see if we can find another way into the cave. We'll skirt around the cliff it was in and see what we can find."

As they pushed their way through the undergrowth of the forest, Kallen tossed a look at Zero over her shoulder. "Too bad Suzaku has your gun now," she taunted. "Since, you know, you'll be useless in combat without one."

Lelouch clamped down on the retort he had on his tongue. As he glowered at the redheaded girl before him, he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it would be worth it to actually attempt a regular exercise regimen, if only to avoid Kallen's verbal pot-shots.

0-0-0-0-0

"There's a path up ahead!" Kallen called out after nearly an hour of trekking.

By that point, Lelouch felt like his knees would give out at any moment.

"Why would there be a path on an island like this?" she wondered out loud as she exited the trees. "Do you think the military has a base here?"

Zero, who had gotten his cape tangled on a low-hanging branch, and thus could not see the path, called out, "I didn't see one when I surveyed the island yesterday. Perhaps it's a bore trail."

"No, not a bore trail," Kallen replied, glancing around, "It's paved."

Finally tugging his cape free, Zero emerged onto the pathway. "Hmm... it appears ancient." He said, kneeling to examine a weathered carving on one of the interlocking stones that made up the dilapidated road. "Perhaps it was created by some civi-,"

Whatever he was about to say next was cut off as the world around the duo was suddenly awash with red light.

0-0-0-0-0

Euphemia awoke to a wonderful aroma. She wasn't able to place it until she opened her eyes to see Suzaku hunched over a fire.

On either side of the flames, the Japanese man had placed two large rocks. Spanning the rocks like a bridge was an array of what looked to be reeds, atop which, slabs of white meat sizzled, releasing the mouth-watering fragrance that tickled the princess' olfactory.

Letting out a yawn, Euphemia stretched out before rising to a sitting position.

"Perfect timing," Suzaku said with a smile as he looked up at the pink haired girl. He then gestured to the meal on the fire and said, "They've just finished cooking."

"What is it?" she asked, feeling herself begin to salivate in near-unladylike anticipation.

"Some sort of fowl," the Japanese man replied, gesturing over his shoulder at the delta of a small, gentle stream, "I caught it as it was taking a drink."

Helping herself to one of the pieces of meat, Euphemia bit in. Her eyes widened at the very pleasant taste. "It's sweet," she stated in surprise.

Suzaku smiled and nodded. "That's because I cooked it on this sugarcane here," he said, nodding to what Euphemia had at first mistaken for reeds. "It grows on the very southern islands in Area 11."

Cheerfully, the princess took another bite. When her mouth was empty once more, she asked, "Where did you learn to do this?"

Suzaku felt a blush creep onto his face. "I, uh, used to be obsessed with survival shows as a kid," he explained sheepishly. "You know; the ones where the host would go to remote places and teach you how to survive. I always made Lelouch watch with me. He hated them."

Euphemia let out a light giggle at the mental image of a young Suzaku, dragging an equally young Lelouch to a television set as the violet eyed boy struggled to get free. The thought of Lelouch, however, immediately caused Euphemia frown.

"You aren't going to tell anyone, are you?" she asked, looking up at her knight with a pleading expression. The fact that she was speaking about Lelouch's identity as Zero didn't need to be said.

Suzaku sighed dejectedly, forgetting the piece of fowl he had been about to bite into. "He's a terrorist," he said quietly, not daring to look at Euphemia as he said it.

"He's my brother," she snapped back; her voice harsher than he had ever heard it before.

Suzaku stared down at his feet, dragging the toe of his shoe through the sand absentmindedly as he lost himself in thought.

He remembered the day that he had killed his father well; how could he not? He relived it every time he closed his eyes to sleep. Not a single detail eluded him; from the warmth of the blood that had coated his hands, how its metallic smell seemed to cling to his flesh for months after, to the way his father's face held an expression of shock as he collapsed to the floor, how the expression seemed to be frozen there, even at his funeral, always mocking Suzaku.

In the end, his simple act of taking a single life had ended up saving thousands, perhaps even millions. So, he had enlisted with the Britannian military. It was as Lelouch had once said; the peace created by his act was a lie. But perhaps if he perpetuated his lie for long enough, it would become a truth. That was what he told himself, at least. He fought so that never again would there be war in Japan; so that his act would continue to hold meaning. And if he died trying, so be it; he would finally be punished for his crime.

And now, Euphemia was asking him to protect the very man who threatened to put an end to Japan's peace.

He wondered; if his father's murder haunted him so deeply, did Lelouch feel the same way about killing Clovis? About Shirley's father? About the countless others whose blood stained his hands? Was that what Lelouch was talking about; being unable to set aside his mask, lest those who have died, have died in vain?

Slowly, Suzaku raised his head, locking eyes with Euphemia. Upon eye-contact, memories flooded his mind; memories he had of time spent with the girl before him. He easily recalled how the princess had entered his life so utterly unexpectedly. It was unexpected, but most certainly not unpleasant. The time he had spent with her had been among the best he had spent in the past ten years; so much so, that when he was with her, he was able to forget his father's murder, and the crushing weight that rested on his shoulder.

Now, the very girl that had given him such a wonderful gift was asking for a favour. What kind of human being would he be if he didn't repay her for her generosity?

'_For her_,' he thought. "I'll do it," he said, "I'll keep it a secret."

The smile that spread across Euphemia's face was so bright; the sun seemed dark by contrast. Suzaku barely had any time to think on it, however, before a pink missile suddenly caught him in the midriff, knocking him over backwards.

"Thank you!" the princess cried out; her voice muffled by the knight's jacket.

Instinctively, Suzaku wrapped his arms loosely around the girl now lying on top of him, nearly crushing him with her own arms.

After a moment of simply enjoying the embrace, Suzaku felt the princess shift her position. Extending her arms so that her body hovered over his, she beamed down at him. "Thank you, Sir Kururugi," she said softly, before lowering her head slowly towards his.

All thoughts left the Japanese man as he began to lift his own head; the two nearing deliberately. She was so close now, he could feel the heat radiating from her flushed face.

The earth began to tremble, and the two wrenched themselves apart.

"An earthquake?" Suzaku pondered out loud, staring across the ocean for any sign of a possible tsunami.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the trembling ceased, leaving the two in confusion. A minute later, a large black shape passed directly overhead, causing the duo to gasp in surprise.

"A Knightmare that flies?" Euphemia exclaimed.

Before Suzaku could respond, a loud crash was heard, and four bright blue Sutherlands burst through the trees, their rifles aimed at the sky. Upon seeing that their quarry was out of range, they lowered their weapons. It took only a few seconds later for one of the pilots to notice that they weren't alone.

"Major Kururugi?" one of the soldiers called out as he was lowered from his Knightmare.

"Yes?" Suzaku replied, stepping towards the man who had addressed him.

The soldier, now on the ground, removed a pair of handcuffs from within a pouch on his utility belt. Grabbing Suzaku by the wrist he said, "You are hereby under arrest for insubordination."

Euphemia, who was quick to react, immediately stepped in between Suzaku and the soldier. "Unhand him at once!" She commanded, jabbing a finger into the man's chest. "I am Princess Euphemia, and this man is my personal knight! There must be a mistake."

The soldier gulped at being addressed by the princess, and immediately snapped to attention. "Y-your highness!" He stuttered. "I apologize, but I have received orders for the arrest of the eleven, Suzaku Kururugi."

Harrumphing at his words, Euphemia snapped, "He is an Honorary Britannian, and you will address him as _Sir_ Kururugi. He is a knight, and therefor outranks you..."

"C-captain Mathias Anderton," the soldier provided with a stammer.

"...Captain," the princess continued. "Am I understood?"

Anderton, who at that point looked ready to pass out, answered much louder than was necessary; "Yes, your highness!"

"Euphie," Suzaku said quietly. Hesitantly noting the soldiers that were nearby, he amended, "Princess Euphemia, I'm sure this is a mistake. I'll submit myself to questioning willingly."

"Suzaku," Euphemia breathed; worry apparent in her voice.

The knight merely gave her a reassuring smile before extending both arms forward, presenting his wrists so that the Captain could place the handcuffs on him.

Before he could however, a blast of wind whipped across the beach, stirring the sand into the air as VTOL landed nearby. When the craft finally landed and its engines had been shut off, a side door opened to reveal a tall, handsome man with flowing blond hair, dressed in a regal white and gold military uniform, complete with a cape that was draped over his shoulders.

"Captain," the man called out as he stepped from the craft and onto the beach; his strides long and purposeful. "There will be no need for handcuffs. Putting Sir Kururugi in restraints casts negative conjectures on not only himself, but his charge. You wouldn't want people to think that you believe Princess Euphemia to be less than honorable, do you?"

The Captain, looking very much like he had just swallowed his own tongue, shook his head, seeming to have lost the ability to speak. Had the situation not been so serious, Suzaku would have found his expression comical.

"Sir Kururugi," the regal man said, turning to face the knight, "I apologize for the way you have been treated."

Suzaku, who knew the man all too well from both Lelouch and Euphemia, bowed deeply before the Second Prince. "Thank you, your highness," he said, before straightening his stance.

"Brother Schneizel!" Euphemia called out, drawing the Prince's attention away from the knight.

"Euphemia, I hope you are well," he said warmly, stepping towards the pink haired girl. Noticing the nick on her throat, he drew his finger across it. "Hmm, what's this?" he asked, turning to Suzaku for an answer.

"There was a member of the Black Knights on the island here, your highness," Suzaku replied, deciding to stick as close to the truth without revealing the identities of either Lelouch or Kallen as possible. "When I woke up on the island, they already had Princess Euphemia as a hostage. I attacked them, and managed to get the princess free safely, but the Black Knight got away."

"I see," the prince said, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully. "I'm sure the full story can wait. For now, I ask that you escort Princess Euphemia back to the Tokyo Settlement."

Taking his leave, Suzaku helped Euphemia onto the VTOL. Remaining behind on the beach, Schneizel gestured over General Bartley, who had arrived with the prince.

"Yes, your highness?" the large man asked, watching as the VTOL flew off into the distance.

"Call in a forensics team," The prince ordered, "If Sir Kururugi did indeed engage one of the Black Knights, it is highly likely they left behind DNA. Have the team comb the area as thoroughly as possible. Zero was on this island; it's possible we can find something connected to him as well. Also, have someone collect the gun that Sir Kururugi has with him. I don't recognize at as being anything that the military uses, which means that he mostly likely confiscated it from the Black Knight that was here. If we're lucky, it has finger prints."

As the General left to confer with the Sutherland pilots, and carry out the orders the prince had given him, Schneizel gazed out across the ocean at the noon-day sun.

"I have a feeling," he murmured to no one in particular, "that we'll soon be hot on your trail, Zero."

0-0-0-0-0

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Feel free to drop a review, or PM me. If you spot a mistake, please don't hesitate to point it out.**

**Also, I hope it was obvious enough; the flash of red that Lelouch and Kallen saw was the beginning of the scene where they hijack the Gawain. Since it supposedly happens almost exactly as it did in the anime (sans Euphemia and Suzaku, of course), I felt no need to rehash events that you've already seen. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in fanfiction. Did that part of the story make sense to everyone when they first read it?  
**


	3. Opening Doors

**I'd like to start off by thanking the guest who left the review pointing out that the Black Knights did not in fact have the Ikaruga during R1, as I had mentioned them to have had in the last chapter (that's since been corrected). I was under the impression (for whatever odd reason) that the Ikaruga was in fact the name of the submarine they had in the first season, and in the second season, they just slapped a bunch of float systems on it. So yeah; my bad.**

**Also, I'm sorry for the slow update since last chapter. I've been extremely busy, between picking up extra hours at work, having three different concerts within a period of a week, an anime convention, joining a new drawing group that meets up regularly, working on actual original stories of mine, helping my sister pack so that she can move to the States, and several other personal things. **

**I'd also like to make a public announcement that no, I will not go back and write in the scene where Lelouch and Kallen hijack the Gawain, so please stop asking. Sure; Euphemia wasn't there to make the guards try to limit their gunfire, but Kallen also didn't have her hands tied for the first half of the scene. The scene ultimately ends up with the exact same result as it did in canon, and therefor does not need to be rehashed.**

0-0-0-0-0

**Chapter 3: Opening Doors  
**

0-0-0-0-0

"Welcome back," C.C. boredly drawled as Lelouch slipped through the door to his quarters, being sure to lock it behind him.

Ignoring her, Lelouch made his way to a nearby arm chair and collapsed into it. With a deft flick of the hand, he removed his helmet and tossed it to the side, along with his gloves. With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.

Lelouch had never liked heat very much, having always preferred a rainy day to a bright sunny one. Wearin a black, virtually air tight dome had only served to intensify his discomfort in the weather on the island. As he slowly cooled off in the air conditioned room, his brain began processing what he was to do next.

He had always figured that if any of one his Black Knights were figure out his identity, it would be Kallen, given her close proximity to him at school. However, he hadn't anticipated her finding out so soon, or about his heritage as well.

Thankfully, she had been compliant so far to his wish to keep his identity secret. During their flight back in the Gawain, as they discovered the black Knightmare had been called, he had come up with a suitably convincing story as to what had happened on the island that was as close to the truth as possible. As the pair had dismounted from the ebony coloured Knightmare, he had called for Ohgi to round up the highest ranking members of the Black Knights for a conference meeting in an hour's time.

He had then made an immediate bee-line to his quarters for some peace and quiet. Thankfully, the immortal witch seemed willing to provide him with just that; the only sounds coming from her were the sounds of chewing as her consuming a slice of pizza at a rate that most would find both alarming and impressive for a woman of her size.

A sharp knock at the door drew him from his musings.

"Who is it?" he called out.

"Kallen," a familiar female voice replied, muffled by the door.

Depositing the head piece he still held in his hand onto a nearby table, Lelouch rose from his seat and unlocked the door, allowing Kallen to enter.

As the door resealed behind her, the half-Japanese girl examined the dimly-lit room she now found herself in. Her eyes trailed across the chess board set up in the corner, the pieces upon it set up mid-game, then to the pile of discarded pizza boxes stacked up beside the chair C.C. occupied.

The green haired woman, licking her fingers after having finished her last slice of pizza, turned towards Kallen; golden eyes locking on to sapphire. Slowly, a Cheshire cat grin split the immortal's face.

"The Queen has finally learned the face of the King, has she?" C.C. crooned, tossing a glance at Lelouch, who scowled back in response.

Kallen raised a questioning eyebrow in the obsidian haired teen. "Queen?" she demanded.

"Even I don't understand half the things that come from her mouth," the Lelouch replied with a dismissive wave of the hand. Turning to C.C. with another pointed glare, he commanded, "Leave us."

The immortal slowly rose, striding purposefully towards the chess board in the corner. She picked up one of the pieces and twirled it absentmindedly between her fingers. For a moment, she stood there, toying with the piece, before deftly tossing it in Kallen's direction.

On reflex, Kallen easily caught the piece in one hand, watching as C.C. strode demurely out of the room.

"Queen?" Kallen asked again, turning to face Lelouch the moment the green-haired woman was no longer present.

Folding his hands in his lap, Lelouch calmly explained, "C.C. has a knack for getting under people's skin; a skill she is rather fond of. My advice to you is to not allow her to do so. Eventually, she will get bored and turn her attention elsewhere."

Casting Lelouch a sceptical glare, Kallen sat down in the chair C.C. had vacated, slipping the chess piece into her pocket so that it was out of the way. "So," she said, letting out an exhale, "What's the next step?"

"For right now," Lelouch said, "I must ascertain Nunnally's safety. As soon as we complete our debriefing with the rest of the Black Knights, I shall be returning to Ashford."

Kallen's posture turned rigid. "And what if you're wrong about Suzaku and he's already told Britannia? What if there's a trap set up for you?" She asked; a defiant tone in her voice.

"Then I will evade the trap," Lelouch responded indifferently. "I have already calculated my options, and have come up with several contingency plans for any possible scenario that may play out upon my arrival at Ashford. Do not think I am going into this blindly."

"Then I'm going with you," Kallen replied, clenching her jaw and staring at him resolutely.

"No," Lelouch responded evenly, schooling his features into a stern mask. "If my cover is compromised, then that would mean yours will be as well. It is much easier for one person to evade capture than two."

Kallen scoffed. "Are you saying I would weigh you down?" she asked angrily, "Because if anything, it would be the other way around. If you're going to be getting into a fight with Britannian soldiers, you're going to need me to haul your unfit ass out of the line of fire."

Lelouch's eyes hardened as his voice took on the very commanding tone that Kallen was used to from Zero. "I will go alone," he reiterated coolly, "There will be no more discussions on the matter."

The redhead glared at him, though she held her tongue.

Seeing that she was willing to comply, he softened his tone ever so slightly. "If I discover that there is indeed no trap, I will let you know that it is safe to return," he told her. Glancing at the clock at his bedside table, he rose to his feet, collecting his helmet as he did so. "Now, I believe it is time that we speak to Ohgi and the others. I'm sure they are very curious as to just what occurred on that island."

With a resigned nod, Kallen stood, following Lelouch out of his quarters after he reattached his headpiece with a graceful flourish of his arm.

0-0-0-0-0

"So many lies," Suzaku murmured, closing his eyes as he came to rest against a wall.

It had been nearly six hours since He and Euphemia had left the island; the trip back to the Tokyo Settlement taking little under an hour itself. Nearly immediately, however, he had been put in handcuffs and brought to an interrogation room, where he had been thoroughly questioned about a supposed act of insubordination he simply couldn't remember, try as he might.

When he voiced his confusion, his interrogators had played for him a recording of a radio transmission, on which his voice, clear as day, had effectively told his superior officers to shove their orders.

He had then been painstakingly grilled for the next few hours until, seemingly out of nowhere, Prince Schneizel, followed closely by a large, balding man he recognized as one of Britannia's generals, had swept into the room he was being held in, and told his captors that he was not to be held responsible.

All too easily, the charges had been dropped, and Suzaku had been set free. He had then wandered the halls of the facility he was in, searching for a spot to collect himself in solitude, where he came to rest in his current location.

"There you are" a familiar feminine voice said, pulling him from his thoughts.

Hesitantly, the Japanese man eased open one of his eyes to see Euphemia peering at him; a worried expression on her face. The frown on Suzaku's face evaporated upon seeing her. Then, just as quickly, it returned.

"Prince Schneizel managed to get the charges against me dropped," Suzaku said; his eyes downcast.

A broad smile broke across Euphemia's face at the news. "Oh, thank goodness," she said happily. Her smile froze, however, upon taking note of Suzaku's less than cheerful demeanor. "...You aren't glad?" she asked in confusion.

Suzaku let out a loud exhalation, bring his hands up to knead his face. "I lied to protect Lelouch; now Prince Schneizel is lying to protect me. When will the lies stop?" Making a scowl as he lowered his hands, he continued. "And here I am; keeping a lie of my own."

Euphemia's eyebrows drew closer together as she scrunched them in confusion. "Suzaku, what do you mean?" she asked softly.

Sluggishly, Suzaku brought his eyes up to meet Euphemia's, as if doing so physically pained him. For a brief instant, Euphemia saw a flash of emotion shine through Suzaku's pools of green; a flash that made it seem as though an immense weight bore down on his shoulders.

She didn't have any time to contemplate what she saw, as the Japanese man spoke; his voice so quiet, she had to strain her ears to hear. "I killed my father," he whispered, before dropping his gaze to the floor between them.

"Suzaku," she murmured, taking a reflexive step back in shock.

With trembling fingers, Suzaku reached up, fumbling to remove the feathered crest pinned to his jacket. "I don't deserve this," he said, "I don't deserve the recognition of being your knight. And, most of all, I don't deserve to go..." He trailed off and his movements stilled as he felt a soft hand tightly clasp over his own.

"No," Euphemia growled. For a moment, Suzaku was unsure whether or not his ears deceived him; he had heard Euphemia _growl_. Bringing his eyes up to see an angered expression on her face; her eyes brimming with tears, he realized that he hadn't heard wrong. "You don't get to say that," she nearly hissed.

"Euphie," Suzaku gasped as the pink haired girl pulled his hands away from his pin.

"For my entire life," Euphemia said, wiping the tears from her face, "I've been overshadowed by my siblings; they're all stronger, or smarter, or more charismatic, or better at commanding an army than me. That's something I'm okay with; I've long since come to terms with the fact. But when I chose you as my knight, it was the first time I was able to do something that actually held meaning without having to ask someone beforehand."

Bringing a hand up, she placed it gently on Suzaku's cheek. Her face now void of all traces of anger it held moments earlier, she directed a soft smile at Suzaku. "Don't tell me I chose wrong, because I _know_ that I couldn't have been more right," she whispered.

Suzaku matched her gaze, losing himself within her violet irises. For how long, he wasn't sure. It could have been hours or it could have been minutes; it didn't really matter to him. Eventually, he felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. Though he tried to contain it, the twitch spread into a smile to match the one that Euphemia had. "Yes, your highness," he murmured tenderly.

The sound of frantic footsteps as they slapped against the marble flooring of the hallway they were in invaded Suzaku's ears. His cheeks coloured upon realizing just how close he and Euphemia had drawn together, before he turned to face whoever was approaching.

With a start, he recognized Cecile Croomy hurriedly running towards them. "We've got a problem," she stated, not pausing to catch her breath as she came to a stop before the Princess and her knight. "I'll explain on the way, but for now, I need you come with me, Suzaku," she continued.

Immediately reverting to a professional demeanour, Suzaku turned to face Euphemia. With a bow, he asked, "By your leave, your highness?"

Euphemia nodded; her smile still playing on her lips. "As long as you promise to remember what I said, Sir Kururugi," she replied.

"I solemnly swear," the Japanese man answered, before turning and following Lloyd's assistant.

0-0-0-0-0

A few hallways away, Prince Schneizel watched as the men in charge of Suzaku's interrogation filed out of the room, leaving him alone with General Bartley.

"My Lord," the rotund man said, stepping tentatively towards the prince, "I do not mean to question your judgement, but I find myself curious; why did you step in for the Elev... Major Kururugi."

Schneizel turned to face the general; his expression unreadable. "I am well aware of your dislike of the numbers, General," he said calmly, "however, you must see that certain individuals, such as Sir Kururugi, possess skills that make them an asset to Britannia. Why restrict these individuals from the battlefield, when we could instead have them on the frontlines, facing dangers that Britannians would otherwise have to face? Besides, it may be beneficial in the long run to have a Knight as talented as Sir Kururugi in my debt."

General Bartley immediately gave the prince a sweeping bow. "Of course, your highness, I meant no disrespect!" he explained hurriedly.

"No harm done," the Prince replied casually. "Now, is there any news from the forensics team I asked for?"

Bartley nodded. "Yes, my lord. The pistol collected from Sir Kururugi held no fingerprints; not even on the bullet casings inside the gun. Whoever the original owner was, they were very careful. The team on island, however, has collected some blood samples, and are still combing the site for more evidence."

"Excellent," Schneizel said, nodding in approval, "I'll speak to Cornelia about getting them access to criminal and military records from the former Japanese government. In the meantime, have them run the samples they've found against Britannian records. Hopefully we can find a match."

"Will that be all, my lord?" the portly general asked, watching as the prince turned to face the reflective surface of the room's one-way mirror and began lightly primping his hair.

After a moment of grooming, Schneizel decided his appearance was acceptable and turned back to face Bartley. "Yes, for the time-," He began, but was immediately interrupted by the ringing of a cellphone.

"My apologies," Bartley announced, looking sheepish, "that is my emergency line. The few people who have this number know not to use it unless it is something serious. May I?"

The prince crisply nodded, allowing the general to retrieve the phone from his uniform's breast pocket. The general adopted a stern expression upon answering; one that grew more severe as the short phone call progressed.

Ending the call, and replacing the phone back his pocket, Bartley gravely announced, "That was General Darlton, sir. Kyushu has fallen."

0-0-0-0-0

"While I thank you for filling us in on the events on the island, I find myself curious as to how the both of you, as well as Major Kururgi and Princess Euphemia managed to be instantly transported to an island over fifty kilometers away from Shikinejima," Kyoshiro Tohdoh stated; his voice its usual neutral tone.

Lelouch, as Zero, with help from Kallen had just finished relaying an abridged version of what had happened during their brief stint as castaways. They were sure to exclude the fact that Suzaku had come into contact with Zero prior to finding Kallen and Euphemia, thus omitting Lelouch's unmasking.

Across the table from Tohdoh, Zero gave a single nod. "I find myself curious as well," the caped leader explained, "However, neither myself nor Captain Kozuki remember anything between the confrontation with the Lancelot and waking up on the island. Perhaps Rakshata can shed some theories as to what exactly happened."

As one, almost as if they were choreographed, all eyes in the room then turned to focus on the Indian scientist who was leaning back indolently in her chair.

Shrugging casually, Rakshata spoke in her usual lazy drawl, "I only had an hour to examine that black Knightmare; the Gawain, but its weapon systems use a type of dark energy manipulation to disintegrate its targets. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that the gunship the Britannia used on Shikinejima operated on the principals." Not bothering to pay the few confused expressions around her any mind, she pressed on. "Some physicists have speculated that dark energy can be used to create a warp effect that bends space-time. Maybe between the Lancelot's shields and the gunship's weaponry, an artificial warp bubble was formed around the Lancelot, transporting the lot of you to your island."

Though beside him, Kallen found herself lost from Rakshata's explanation, Zero nodded thoughtfully. "I see," he said, "Do you think there's any way you could reverse engineer the effect and create some sort of warp drive for the Black Knights to use."

The scientist was quick to shake her head. "If you give me a couple hours, I can get the Gawain's weapons to focus their fire properly. Theoretical physics, however, is outside of my field of expertise. Warp drives? That's extremely advanced stuff. With full military funding and a few old colleagues of mine, and I might be able to get you something useful by the end of the decade."

Letting out a dejected sigh, Zero replied, "I see. For now, I'll ask you to focus your efforts on getting the Gawain operational. As for the rest of you, unless you have pressing questions to ask, for the time being-,"

"-Zero!" the frantic voice of Diethard Reid interrupted. Turning away from the conference table to see the Britannian man standing at the doorway, using its frame to support himself as he panted for breath after having apparently exhausted himself from running. Pushing through his fatigue, Diethard righted himself and spoke, "Fukuoka base has just been besieged; the Britannian forces there have been sent into retreat. The reports I've been getting say it was at the hands of an army waving the Japanese flag!"

0-0-0-0-0

"Oi, have any of you seen or heard from Lelouch lately?" called out Milly Ashford as she strode purposefully into the Student council room.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were glued to a TV screen as it played the same report on the invasion of Kyushu it had for the past few hours, and that nobody seemed to have noticed her and her presence, she let out an indignant huff before marching to the TV and turning it off.

"Hey, we were watching that!" Rivalz whined, gesturing between himself and Shirley on the couch, and Nina, who had turned in her seat at her computer to view the news.

In response, Milly merely rolled her eyes. "Come on, the school festival will be in just three days, and we have a lot of prepping to do." Here, she paused to hand out a stack of paper to each present member. "Nina, you'll be in charge of setting up the sound system; it shouldn't be too hard this year, since we have brand new equipment. Shirley, you'll be in charge of running the horror house, and Rivalz, since Lelouch isn't here; you'll be in charge of filling out the paperwork to renew our licenses and permits from last year's festival."

Rivalz groaned upon realizing that his stack of papers was much larger than everyone else's. "Lelouch better get his ass back to school quickly," he grumbled under his breath before speaking up to address Milly. "What about Kallen and Suzaku; what are they doing?"

"Don't you worry about them," she replied, "Suzaku already has his papers; he'll be in charge of the pizza. As for Kallen, she's still in the hospital. If she makes it out in time for the festival, I'll find something not too strenuous for her." Pausing to check her phone to see if she had received any messages from Lelouch, she noticed the time on her cellphone's display. "Damnit, it's 5:00 already. I was hoping we would get more done," she muttered.

Immediately, Rivalz hopped to his feet, tossing the packet of papers that had been stapled together for him onto the table. "Home time!" he cheered, before making to leave the room.

"Uh uh," Milly tutted, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck before he could make it very far. With her other hand, she picked up the packet the blue haired boy had left behind, and deposited it in his hands. "Work on it at home," she commanded before ushering him out of the room.

Shirley was quick to follow, and Milly was about to turn off the lights when Nina stopped beside her. "The art club handed in their paperwork today," the shy girl said, holding up a document in her hand, "I was thinking about heading to the art museum after school to submit it."

Milly nodded cheerfully. "Excellent idea," she said, "Now if only the rest of the group could have the same work ethic you have."

Watching as Nina then disappeared down the hall, Milly turned to take one last look at the room; her eyes settling on the chair Lelouch normally occupied during their meetings. Letting out a sigh, she closed and locked the door, wondering all the while where her vice-president had gone, and when he'd be back.

0-0-0-0-0

"Um... armed hostiles?" Kallen asked, watching as Lelouch casually stroked his chin with both his index and middle fingers.

Vehemently, Lelouch shook his head. "No, armed hostiles was this one," he replied with a frustrated sigh, before stroking his chin again, this time with his thumb and index finger.

Kallen groaned, throwing her head back to look at the ceiling so that Lelouch couldn't see her roll her eyes. "They all look the same!" she growled.

Lelouch exasperatedly began to massage the bride of his nose. Granted, he had only been attempting to teach the redhead his own personal set of hand gestures for the past day, but after nearly five hours straight of teaching, he had expected her to pick up more than she had.

"Oh! That one means Knighmare pilot!" Kallen exclaimed, pointing at Lelouch's hand as it kneaded between his brows.

"It means enemy commander," a languid voice intoned. "And the one before that was 'don't trust'"

Kallen's head swiveled to see C.C. lounging on the nearby couch; her face buried in a book. "How the hell would you know? You haven't even been paying attention!"

"But she's right," Lelouch stated firmly.

Kallen slammed her fist down on the armrest of the chair she was seated in. "Then have her be your Zero Squad captain. Clearly I'm not smart enough to learn your sign language, and I clearly wasn't good enough of a pilot to help you in Kyushu."

Before Lelouch could reply, a dry chuckle was heard from C.C.'s corner. "Sounds like the queen has jealousy issues," the immortal chortled.

"Not helping," Lelouch hissed at the green haired woman who, in response, tossed him a smirk before returning to her book.

Kallen glared harshly at C.C. before rising to a stand. "Find someone else to be your Robin," she snapped at Lelouch before storming to the door.

With a swift movement, Lelouch collected a remote that rested on a nearby end table and quickly pressed a single button. A click was heard from the direction of the room's entrance, seconds before Kallen reached the control panel.

The redhead angrily jabbed a finger into the button that normally would open the door, only to find that the door wouldn't respond. Staring at the door for a second first, she spun on her heel. "Open this door," she commanded.

Deliberately, the ebony haired teen replaced the remote on its table before neatly folding his hands in his lap. "Sit," he said, nodding in the direction of the chair Kallen had vacated. His voice was icier than Kallen had ever heard it, and for a moment, was taken aback. "That is an order," he said simply.

"Fine," the half-Japanese teen huffed, returning to her seat, purposely slouching in the chair to show that, while she was willing to listen, she wasn't happy about it.

"You are the best pilot the Order has," Lelouch began, "And you are undoubtedly my most trusted soldier; but you already know this, and you know that I know this. So, cut the act. You are angry because I've kept my identity from you as long as I have, and that's what all this boils down to. Had you never learned who I am behind the mask, I know that you would have been overjoyed at the chance to take personal lessons from me; lessons that increase our chance of success over Britannia."

Kallen remained silent, electing instead to stare at the carpet; anything to avoid meeting the gaze of the violet eyed man before her.

Behind her, a mirthful laugh was heard. "Before she learned who you are, I'd say she would have peed herself with excitement if you had told her you wanted to give her private lessons. Truthfully, her devotion was nearing the level that it was almost disturbing," C.C. crooned.

Lelouch grit his teeth and, looking very much like he was restraining himself from yelling, her addressed the immortal, "Do you have anywhere else better to be?"

"Not especially," she replied simply.

Instead of retorting, he turned back to Kallen. Thankfully, C.C.'s quip had the unintended side effect of virtually eliminating any hostile tension between Lelouch and Kallen, as Lelouch's anger was now solely focused on the immortal, while Kallen's had been replaced with indignation and embarrassment.

"I've already told you my story," Lelouch said, "So there's no need to reiterate the fact that I hid my identity for a good reason. Shall we instead focus our efforts on the lesson at hand?"

After some reluctance, Kallen finally gave a slow nod. For the next hour, Lelouch drilled more and more gestures into her, and eventually she began to retain what Lelouch deemed to be an acceptable proportion of them.

As the session drew to a close, Lelouch rose to his feet, collecting his helmet as he went.

"I find myself curious," he said, directing his attention to Kallen, "earlier, you said 'find someone else to be your Robin'. What exactly did you mean by that? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that idiom."

Kallen shook her head and gave a laugh. "It's not an idiom. Haven't you ever heard of Batman and Robin?"

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "And you're saying I'm Batman?"

"Well, you have the black cape and the mask," Kallen replied sheepishly.

Lelouch scowled. "I'm nothing like Batman. If we're going to use a comic book analogy, then I have no name. You may call me 'V'."

Before she could reply, Lelouch had already slid his mask firmly in place on his head. Making sure to disengage the lock he had placed on his door with his remote first, he strode towards the exit.

"I am afraid that I cannot guarantee when our next lesson will be. Tomorrow I am returning to Ashford. If I discern that it is safe for you to return, I'll contact you. In the meantime, stay here," he instructed, before, with a swoosh of his cape, he was gone.

For a moment, Kallen hesitated at the doorway. Turning her head to glance over her shoulder at the mysterious green haired woman she knew little about, she wondered for a moment if she should say a farewell to C.C. before heading out of the room. Finally deciding it wasn't necessary, as the other woman was still absorbed in her book, she shrugged and exited Lelouch's quarters.

"Interesting one, that girl," C.C. said out loud after a moment of being alone. There was a pause of silence, during which someone observing her may have gotten the impression that she was waiting for a response. Then, after the brief pause had passed, C.C. chuckled. "Don't word it like that," she said, "You know I hate it when you say things like that. Though, I suppose it may be possible in the future."

Had she not been alone, most people in her presence would be confused by her apparent conversation with no one. The conversation, however, seemed to be a short one, as she didn't say anything else. Instead, she tossed her book to the side and closed her eyes to sleep.

0-0-0-0-0

The next day, Kallen found herself in the submarine's Knightmare hangar, running a basic diagnostic on the Guren; something she did every few days out of habit. A couple Knightmares away, Tamaki was replacing a damaged panel on the leg of his own machine. Aside from Rakshata, who was on the other end of the bay, going through the Gawain's schematics, they were alone. Thankfully, Tamaki had been fairly quiet the entire time, aside from the jaunty tune he was humming; one Kallen recognized as a theme song to an old Japanese TV show.

The silence was interrupted when Diethard Reid walked in, glancing around as if he was looking for something. Spotting Kallen atop the Guren, he called up to her, "Captain Kozuki, would you happen to know where Zero is?"

"Zero?" Tamaki replied, not giving Kallen a chance to answer, "Nah, haven't seen him since yesterday." Setting down his tools before hopping down from the low platform he had been perched on, he approached the Britannian man. "What d'ya need him for?"

Looking slightly miffed at having his question answered by someone he hadn't directed it towards, he replied. "I have procured the documents he asked for yesterday." Then muttering to himself, he added, "A little odd that he would need plans for possible escape routes from a high school, but Ashford was rather easy to dig up Intel on."

Kallen's keen ears managed to pick up what he had said, and her interest piqued at the mention of Ashford. Noticing Tamaki attempt to make a grab at the file folder in Diehard's hands, she quickly dropped what she was doing, and scrambled down the ladder leading from the Guren's cockpit to the ground.

"I can take those to him, if you like," she offered, sending a pointed look of disapproval at Tamaki.

"Ah, thank you," Diethard said, handing her the papers. "I was planning on contacting him tomorrow anyways, but I suppose you'll know how to reach him sooner." His task now passed on to Kallen, he had no reason to linger, and quickly departed.

As Kallen began leafing through the documents, she heard Tamaki ask, "Are you and him... you know?"

"Are me and Diethard, what?" Kallen replied distractedly.

"No, I'm not talking about the Brit," Tamaki quickly amended with a scowl, "Are you and Zero?"

Looking up from the folder in her hands, she scowled at the burgundy haired man. "Okay, same question; are me and Zero, what?"

Tamaki let out a grin. "You know..." he repeated, before giving her a conspiratory wink. "You were in his cabin for a long time yesterday."

"Oh," Kallen said numbly, her mind only just catching on to what Tamaki was getting at. "Gross, why the hell would you ask that?"

The man replied by nudging her with his elbow. "C'mon," he groaned. "Okay, fine; I get it. It's personal, and you don't want to share. So how about this; you tell me, and I'll tell you about the last girl I was with. That way it'll be fair."

With a roll of her eyes, Kallen growled, "No, there is nothing happening between me and Zero. And no, I don't want to hear about you and your hand."

"Ouch," Tamaki muttered, before deciding to abandon his quest of pestering Kallen in favour of continuing with replacing the panel he had been working on.

Left in peace, Kallen thumbed through the rest of the documents she held in her hands; a plan forming in her head.

0-0-0-0-0

**So, much like last chapter, I chose not to simply rehash a scene from cannon (the battle at Kyushu this time around), and instead, allowed Euphemia to force Suzaku to keep his knighthood status, as it was a very emotionally charged and important scene. That being said, the battle went much as it had in the anime with minor differences in Euphemia's love confession that all-in-all won't drastically affect anything.**

**Next chapter will be the school festival, and after that, you'll see a drastic change in the plot.**

**On a side note; I'd like to imagine that it was the Sailor Moon theme Tamaki was humming. Feel free to imagine what ever song you'd like, however, as it really doesn't make a difference.**


	4. Nexus

**I'm extremely sorry it took as long as it did to get this chapter up; my laptop crashed, and I had to send it in for repairs. It's still not working 100% of the time, though, and I may need to get a new one.**

**I also just want to make it clear, before getting too far into the story, that, as you may have (hopefully) guessed from the character tags; this fic features a pairing of Kallen/Lelouch. There will be no harem (this isn't a matter of not being able to fit enough characters into the tags provided).**

**Personally, I feel that nearly all harem fics I have come across have been simply created by people who want to see the main character bed as many women as possible for the sake of their own strange erotic attachments to a fictitious character. There are perhaps authors out there who legitimately support polygamy, and feel that a meaningful relationship can arise between multiple individuals, but I have yet to come across them. As trying to weave together the right words to convey a convincing romance between only two people is hard enough, I very highly doubt that I will ever write a harem fic. **

**My choice for Kallen to be Lelouch's main love interest is simple; I simply like what she represents as a character foil the most. **

**Of the three main love interests in canon, Shirley represents the 'normal' side of Lelouch; Lelouch Lamperouge; the schoolboy that loves his sister. A romance with her would help to remind Lelouch that he is human just like everyone else; that he is allowed to actually enjoy life once in a while.**

**C.C. represents Lelouch's life as Zero. She helps keep him focused on his goal. She reminds him that sometimes he needs to make sacrifices if he is to succeed.**

**Kallen is the balance between the two. Kallen Kozuki is Zero's sword and shield, while Kallen Stadtfeld is Lelouch's friend and classmate. While Shirley would be completely lost on a battlefield, Kallen has proven time and again that she is not only Lelouch's most loyal, but also his most combat capable soldier. She has experience laying her life on the line in battle, and would do so if it meant seeing Japan free once more. **

**C.C. on the other hand, has grown distant from human emotions over the course of her 900+ year life. Watching everyone she's ever cared for grow old and die while she's stayed the same has taught her to not grow attached to anyone, knowing full well that they will either die long before her, or she will achieve her goal of finally ending her life, and it won't matter anyway. Her interactions with Mao have shown us that she will leave a person she has claimed to love if she decides that the person can no longer help her achieve her goal, and even kill them should they actively hold her back.**

**It's just a pity that Kallen is often disregarding (usually by the fans of the other two romances) as being a fan service character. Truly, all that fan service was completely unnecessary. Code Geass has one of the strongest plots of any work of fiction I've come across, and doesn't need the fan service that some other animes use to cover up a complete lack of an actual story *coughcoughRosario+Vampirecoughcough*. Besides which, it distracts from Kallen; one of the most truly interesting and well developed characters I have come across in fiction.**

**Anyways, that was a bit longer than was probably required. On to the next chapter:**

0-0-0-0-0

**Chapter 4: Nexus**

0-0-0-0-0

A groan escaped Lelouch's clenched teeth as he walked through the halls of Ashford. With the school festival in full swing, Milly had been working the entire student council to the bone, and as Vice President, that applied doubly to him.

Stifling a yawn, he walked up to the door of the store room that was his destination. Milly had asked him to double check the shipping manifest for the load of vegetables that had been brought in for the festival's giant pizza to ensure that they had enough. He had barely repressed the urge to remind Milly that the task should have been carried out yesterday, when the shipment had arrived. He knew full well that doing so would have earned him a much longer list of jobs to carry out than he already had.

Pushing the door open, he froze when the back of a familiar brown haired head came into view.

Barring briefly over the radio as Zero in Kyushu, Lelouch hadn't spoken to Suzaku since escaping the island with Kallen. The knight had been decidedly absent from school since then. In fact, it was a bit of a surprise to Lelouch that he was here today, having heard no confirmation as to his attendance to the school festival.

Either from hearing the door open, or from seeing the scant bit of added ambient light spill into the room from the hallway, Suzaku realized that he was no longer alone in the room and turned around; his eyes narrowing slightly when they settled upon Lelouch.

For a moment, neither party said a thing; tension palpable in the air. It was abundantly apparent that the very dynamic of their friendship had changed, just as one would expect upon discovering that one's oldest friend spent their free time masquerading as a caped revolutionary. Perhaps there was a psychologist somewhere out there who would be absolutely delighted at the possibility of dissecting their particular scenario.

An image of said psychologist rapidly questioning the two with a maniacal grin flashed through Lelouch's head, betraying the seriousness of the situation he was in.

"You can thank Euphie," Suzaku said, breaking the silence, and pulling Lelouch from his musings. "She asked me not to reveal you to the military."

"Euphie?" Lelouch asked, forcing himself to not appear surprised at the use of the pet name given to his half-sister by Cornelia. "I wasn't aware the two of you were that close."

Suzaku frowned. "I guess there's a lot we don't know about each other, even after all this time," he murmured in response.

Lelouch's mask of indifference faltered; there was no denying that Suzaku's words, simple as they were, affected him. "I'm still the same person you knew back then, Suzaku," he said.

The Japanese man shook his head. "Are you, Lelouch?" he asked. "Because people change. I know for a fact that I'm not the same person I was."

"I'm still your friend," Lelouch replied resolutely. "Didn't you say something similar back on the island?"

For a moment, Suzaku looked taken aback. "Friends, eh?" he breathed, slowly relaxing his rigid stance. "Yeah, you're right; I meant what I said on the island. But that goes for everything I said back then; I am Lelouch's friend, but I am Zero's enemy."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," the former prince responded; a faint smile gracing his features. For a moment the two stared at each other in uncomfortable silence.

Then, noticing how watery the other man's eyes appeared at that moment, Lelouch spoke as an attempt to break the awkwardness. "The sentimentality isn't getting to you is it?" he asked, pointing at the moisture collected around the edge of the Japanese man's eyes, "You're crying."

Suzaku lightly chuckled before gesturing to the counter behind himself, illuminating Lelouch as to what he had been doing in the store room beforehand. "Onions," he said, giving a scathing look to the offending pile of diced vegetables, "Milly is having me cut them all by hand. I think it's her way of punishing me for not being here when you guys set up."

"Certainly sounds like something our president would do," Lelouch mirthfully agreed. Seeing his classmate visibly relax, he approached the precariously stacked wall of boxes that had been pushed to one side of the room; each box labelled by a picture of the fruit or vegetable they contained. "You know, if you rub a bit of oil on the blade before cutting onions, it helps."

"Oil," Suzaku repeated thoughtfully, "Remind me to try that out next time." Observing Lelouch as he began shifting boxes around as if searching for something, he found himself grow somewhat curious. "Lose something?" he questioned.

Without looking up, Lelouch replied, "Milly sent me here to make sure we actually received everything that was ordered. You haven't seen a sheet of paper taped to any of the boxes, have you?"

When Suzaku didn't respond, he glanced over his shoulder at the Japanese man, only to find said man staring in the direction of the door. He had to crane his head even further to try and see what had captured his friend's attention.

That was when he noticed a third occupant in the room standing in the doorway, her face framed by flaming red hair, clutching a familiar pink pouch.

"You shouldn't be here" Lelouch said, glaring harshly at Kallen.

0-0-0-0-0

Gazing fondly up at a cherry tree nearby, Kaname Ohgi found his thoughts wandering.

"Is something the matter?" a soft voice asked, jolting him out of his reverie.

Turning to see Chigusa staring at him with concern he immediately put a smile on his face. "It's nothing," he said quickly. "Just remembering when I was a kid. My family and I would always attend Hanami. That was before... well..." he trailed off, glancing around at the many Britannian students running around the campus of Ashford.

Seeing his forlorn expression, Chigusa wrapped one of her arms around his. With a smile, she looked up at him, peering into his eyes with as warm an expression as she could muster. "What if we went next year?" she asked, "even if it's just the two of us?"

Relaxing slightly, Ohgi nodded before returning the Britannian woman's grin. "I'd like that," he murmured.

For a moment they stood, simply enjoying each other's company. The moment was quickly ruined, however, when a child ran directly in front of the couple, squealing in delight as their mother attempted to chase them down, scolding the child loudly as they did so.

"Shall we look around some more?" Chigusa asked, pulling Ohgi's arm in the direction of the festivities.

Allowing her to guide him around, Ohgi quickly fell into step beside the silver haired woman.

"What was it you needed here again?" Chigusa inquired as they slowly weaved through the crowd. "If we get that done first, we can enjoy ourselves more afterwards."

"Uh... I just need to check something," Ohgi muttered, trying to come up with something convincing as his real mission ran through his head.

That morning, he had happened to have stumbled across Diethard Reid in one of the many passageways on the Black Knight's submarine as he emerged from one of the personal quarters of one of the crew members. He started when he realized that the room belonged to Kallen, and immediately moved to intercept the Britannian man.

"Isn't that Captain Kozuki's room?" Ohgi had half-demanded, cocking a questioning eyebrow.

"Yes," Diethard had replied simply, "I'm trying to find the Captain."

"What do you need from her?" the Japanese man had inquired, still not willing to trust the man before him fully, despite Zero's assurances of his loyalty.

Straightening his uniform, looking clearly peeved by the minor interrogation, Diethard had replied, "Zero has asked me to gather intelligence on Ashford Academy. Two of my sources have inconsistencies in regards to the location of the school's back-up generator. I was planning on asking Captain Kozuki to investigate the matter, considering her position at the school; however, it appears that she has already left to deliver the first half of my report to Zero."

Still casting a suspicious glare at Diethard, Ohgi had replied, "Ashford is having a school festival tomorrow. It would be easy for me to get onto the school's campus and find the information you need."

Returning back to the present, Ohgi noticed Chigusa staring up at him curiously. Realizing he still hadn't answered her question, he hastily stammered, "It's, uh, for work. My construction company was asked to do some renovations here next month, but the blueprints we have are a little confusing. I just wanted to see a few things to make sure we'll have the right supplies."

Tilting her head in thought, Chigusa nodded. "Even on your time off, you're doing things for your job. I hope your boss apprecia- oof!"

The silver haired woman was cut off mid-sentence when someone in the crowd collided into her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" a girl, the one who had bumped into them, hastily explained.

Turning to face the girl, Ohgi noticed that the girl appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen; the same age as those who attended Ashford. However, she wasn't wearing a uniform. Instead, she was garbed in a blue and beige dress with a high collar, a pair of large sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat, underneath which, bright pink hair was tucked away in a neat bun. The ever cautious side of Ohgi's brain came to the conclusion that she was trying to conceal her identity.

"Are you alright?" the yet unnamed girl inquired.

"Oh, I'm alright, it's no problem," Chigusa chimed cheerily, happy to forgive what was clearly an accident. She faltered slightly when she noticed the girl staring intently at her.

"You look familiar," The pink haired girl murmured, just loud enough for the couple to hear.

"Do you know her?" Ohgi gasped, stepping towards the girl. Truth be told, he unsure if he was enthusiastic or terrified at the idea. On one hand, Chigusa may be able to return to her previous life, yet, at the same time, she would then have to leave his.

Movement out of the corner of Ohgi's eye caught his attention. Observing out of his peripherals so as to not draw attention he noticed two people; a man and a woman, a few metres away. They both had their hand inside their jacket for what could only be concealed firearms.

Instinct from years of fighting as a rebel kicked in, and the Japanese man felt his entire body tense; ready to spring into action.

Before anything else could happen, however, the pink-haired girl seemed to falter. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she began to slowly backpedal. "No, sorry, my mistake," she explained, sounding nervous. "I... um... I have to go."

As quickly as she had appeared, the girl slipped back into the crowd; the two armed individuals disappearing with her. The encounter left Ohgi and Chigusa baffled.

"Oi, you there," a commanding voice said from behind the couple, startling them both. "Where can I eat the pizza they claim to be the largest in the world?"

0-0-0-0-0

"I gave you a very specific order to stay on the submarine," Lelouch hissed, immediately wheeling to face Kallen the moment he saw her. "Yet, despite that order, I find you here. If anyone else in the Order disobeyed such a blatant command, they would find themselves on probation. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't do so for you."

Kallen opened her mouth to retort, but as she did, Suzaku's voice called out, interrupting her before she could begin.

"Keep it down!" he hissed before slipping past Kallen, and began casting hurried glances down the corridor outside in either direction. Seeing that the coast was clear, he strode quickly towards the other two, closing the door behind him on the way. "Did you forget that we're in a public building?" he demanded, "A public building that currently has several high-ranking officers of the Britannian military just outside, at that."

"There are military personnel here at the festival?" Lelouch questioned, raising a brow, "How utterly carefree of them."

"Soldiers are allowed time off," Suzaku replied calmly with a shrug, "Where they spend that time is entirely up to them."

"Will they be a problem?" Kallen asked, narrowing her eyes at the Japanese man. "Are they here for more than just time off?"

Turning to address her, Lelouch responded, "They are not here for an ambush, if that is what you mean. Or at least that is what I have been told."

Kallen pursed her lips in thought; her glare still directed at Suzaku as she did so. "You'll keep our secrets then?" she asked.

"I have agreed to keep his identity as Zero a secret, if that's what you mean," Suzaku replied, tilting his head in Lelouch's direction, "and so far, no one else knows about you either. Don't misunderstand me though; I won't keep anything else a secret. If you both suffer from a sudden lapse in judgement, and decide to discuss battle plans in my presence, I won't hesitate to report those plans. I'm not your ally, or your confidante. "

"Suits me," scoffed Kallen, turning her nose up at Suzaku, "all I want is your guarantee of silence, not your friendship."

"I said that I'm not your ally, Kallen," the Japanese man replied. "I didn't say anything about not being friends."

Apprehensively, the redhead regarded Suzaku out of the corner of her eye. "Friend of the enemy? What are you playing at?"

Suzaku shrugged. "I'm not playing at anything," he replied earnestly, "I want to try to convince you; both of you, to hang up your disguises and end this war."

Before Kallen could respond, Lelouch cut in. "That is a discussion for another time. For now, let us get through this festival in one piece. I, for one, do not anticipate being on the receiving end of Milly's wrath if we screw anything up."

At the thought of an angry Milly Ashford, all three teens shuddered simultaneously.

"Kallen," Lelouch spoke, "I will deal with your disobedience later. For now, why don't you head to classroom 2-B in the Chemistry wing. Shirley said that she could use some help there."

"Isn't that where the haunted house is set up?" Suzaku asked.

Kallen's eyes widened at Suzaku's words. Immediately, she spun to face Lelouch. "Haunted house?" she demanded. "No way! I'm not putting on some ridiculous outfit just to stand around scaring people."

Lelouch felt his eyes twitch in annoyance. As he opened his mouth to tell Kallen that she had no choice, an idea popped into his head. It seemed cruel, but after dealing with Kallen's stubbornness over the past few days, he was feeling rather vindictive. Besides, he still hadn't paid her back for making him walk all the way around the ridge on the island.

Suppressing a wicked grin, Lelouch let out a melodramatic sigh. "If you absolutely don't want to go to the horror house, I suppose there is one other task you could handle," he slowly explained.

"Anything but the horror house," Kallen vehemently insisted.

"Milly did say she needed help with something..." Lelouch continued.

0-0-0-0-0

"I will kill you Lelouch Lamperouge," Kallen muttered murderously under her breath as she glared down at the frilly and extremely revealing maid's outfit she now found herself in. "I will tear your head off with my bare hands, then I'll take your-,"

"Kallen, there's a customer at table 10," another girl, dressed in an identical outfit to Kallen's, called out.

"On it," the half-Japanese girl grumbled, grabbing a tray and a note pad. Closing her eyes and taking in a few deep breaths in a feeble attempt to get over her embarrassment, she approached the table in question. "Welcome to Ashford Academy's Maid Café. May I take your order?" she inquired, forcing her voice into a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Kallen?" a male voice responded, sounding thoroughly shocked.

Slowly, Kallen opened her eyes to take a look at her customer. The first thing her vision picked up was the man's vivid red hair. Sliding down the man's facial features, her eyes latched onto a pair of cerulean irises; the same colour as her own. "Dad?" she gasped, miming the man's surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I, uh..." the man stammered, appearing extremely flustered. "I was looking for something to eat. I was busy this morning, so I didn't get a chance to have breakfast. I asked one of your classmates where I could get some food, and they pointed me here. Strange girl, she was; said something about 'the pizza' being hers. Not sure what she was talking about. Now that I think about it, she seemed a couple years too old to be going to this school. I've never seen eyes quite that vividly yellow before either."

"No, that's not what I mean," Kallen quickly amended, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "What are you doing here; in Japan?" she demanded

Hesitantly giving a weak smile, Mr. Stadtfeld replied, "Well, actually, I came to Area Eleven for you."

"You came to visit?" Kallen scoffed, unable to keep the heat out of her voice. "After all this time, you suddenly decide to show up and pretend to be a parent?"

"Kallen, I-," the man attempted to speak, only to be disrupted by Kallen's continued tongue lashing.

"No!" she shouted, not caring that others around the café were stopping what they were doing to look on at the commotion. "Just stay away. It's what you're good at; isn't it? You stayed away when mom was arrested. You stayed away when Naoto-,"

Kallen clenched her jaw, unable to complete her sentence, knowing full well that if she did, it would cause the tears of rage building up behind her eyes to be unleashed. Instead, she simply leveled a glare, filled with as much animosity as she could muster, at the man before turning on her heel and storming off.

Not sparing a second glance behind her, the half-Japanese girl pushed through the doors leading into the kitchen. Dropping off her tray and notepad on a nearby counter before collecting her school uniform, she murmured an apology to the girl in charge of the café before exiting the building. With a huff, she tossed the Jacket of her uniform over top of her maid outfit before pushing her way through the crowd outside.

She quickly lost track of time as she began to meander around with no destination in mind. Dragging the toes of her shoes across the pavement with each step, she eventually found herself walking past a line of games booths.

As she stopped briefly to grasp her bearings, one of the booths immediately caught her attention; a shooting range. The guns at the booth were mounted on a swiveling stand, and Kallen had no doubt that their 'bullets' were entirely non-lethal, but she figured shooting something would help her ease her anger.

Handing the booth operator the required money, she took hold of one of the bright red plastic guns and lined up her sight down the fake weapon's barrel. Squeezing the trigger, she heard a hiss of air before the target before her fell over. Mechanically, she fired off three more shots in short order; each taking down their intended target.

Smirking slightly in victory, she took aim at her final target, this time using her imagination to super-impose her father's visage in place of the painted bull's-eye she was supposed to be shooting. In the back of her mind, she knew that the idea of actually shooting her father was a sick and twisted. For her, this was therapeutic; taking out her anger on inanimate objects, rather than actual people. It was a much healthier option, she decided.

Focussing back on the range, she pulled back the trigger and fired. Just as before, her aim was true, knocking over the target.

"You're good," a voice chirped from right beside her, startling her greatly.

Letting out an uncharacteristic squawk, she whirled to face the source of the voice.

"You," she breathed, finding herself face-to-face once more with Princess Euphemia. This time, however, the Princess was not nearly as easy to recognize, with her iconic bubblegum hair tucked away under a hat, and her usually emasculate attire replaced with commonplace civilian clothes.

"I'm glad we're able to meet again," the bubbly girl said, clapping her hands together. "I was worried after the island..." she trailed off suddenly, glancing over her shoulders at something, "Oh, hang on a moment."

As the princess disappeared from view, Kallen was left feeling rather flabbergasted.

"Do you want the bear?" a bored voice asked, pulling Kallen back towards the firing range.

"Huh?" she asked, blinking in confusion when she found herself facing the student working at the booth.

"You get a bear for hitting all five targets," he explained blasély, holding up a plush toy that was nearly the same size as her.

"Uh... sure," the redhead deadpanned, taking hold of the oversized stuffed animal around the waist so as to ensure that its feet wouldn't drag on the ground.

Bewilderedly, she stepped away from the firing range. It wasn't long before she heard a familiar voice say, "Oh, that's cute."

"I suppose," Kallen mumbled, turning to face Euphemia.

"Sorry, I just had to tell my body guards to leave," the princess explained in a whisper, before grabbing Kallen by the wrist of her free hand and leading her out of the crowd.

By the time the pink haired girl had dragged Kallen around the school, coming to rest in a vacant field, Kallen had collected her thoughts adequately enough that she was able to come up with something to say.

"Let go of me," the redhead snapped, seeing that they were alone enough to let her 'sick girl' image fall. With a jerk of her arm, she wrenched her hand out of the other girl's grasp, nearly throwing the princess off balance. "What the hell do you want?"

Seeing the slight shock in the princess' eyes, even hidden behind her sunglasses as they were, Kallen let out a bitter chuckle.

"What? Did you think we were friends?" Kallen scathingly asked. "Newsflash princess; we're not. In case you've forgotten, the last time we spoke; you were my hostage. You are a member of the royal family of the empire that destroyed my country, put my people into ghettos, and killed my brother! We are not, and can never be, friends."

A forlorn expression crossed Euphemia's face as she gaped at the redhead. Slowly, she removed her shades. "Kallen... I-,"

"Don't use my name as if we're familiar!" Kallen growled.

Euphemia's expression hardened slightly in response. "Then what do I call you?" she demanded defiantly.

Taken aback, Kallen found herself faltering. "I... guess Kallen is fine," she muttered begrudgingly, glaring daggers at the princess.

"Kallen," Euphemia said slowly, "I wasn't the one who ordered the invasion. I wasn't the one who ordered the massacres, or the subjugation. I was, however, the one who chose a Japanese man to be my knight."

Kallen scoffed. "'Honorary Britannian' is what he prefers to be called. The man sold away the name 'Japanese' a long time ago."

"It still caused an uproar," replied the princess. "There are those that still think identity is skin deep. Yet, I chose him anyways. Do you know why?"

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "If you buy what the tabloids are selling, it's because you have a thing for him," she answered with a smirk.

Resisting the urge to blush, Euphemia forged on. "Because he is a good man," she said, forcing down her embarrassment and replacing it with determination. "Because he is a skilled pilot, and is more than capable of the job. Because I want people to see what I see; not just a number. Believe it or not, Kallen, there are those in Britannia that want to help; even those in the royal family. If you want proof, you only have to look at my brother."

Silence reigned between the two after Euphemia's declaration. The two women maintained eye-contact, refusing to look away in a battle of wills.

Languidly, Kallen spoke first. "If you really want to help," she said, "then give us back Japan." Letting her statement hang in the air, the redhead turned and marched away; her bear still tucked under her arm.

Weighed down by her words, the Princess watched her back recede back around the school.

"I can't do that," Euphemia whispered sadly, "not yet. But, I can give you something else."

0-0-0-0-0

"C.C." Ohgi gasped, finding himself face to face with the very woman whose name he had uttered.

He repressed a shudder as her unblinking yellow eyes gazed intently back. They had always unnerved him; their unnatural colour had always reminded him of those of a bird of prey staring down its prey. They always seemed as if they were piercing into his soul, reading his very thoughts as if they were a book on display.

"What a surprise to see you here," she replied, not sounding the least bit surprised.

"You know each other?" Chigusa asked, alternating glances between Ohgi and the green haired girl.

The Britannian woman then found herself subject to the girl's hawk-like eyes. Shrinking back in trepidation, she attempted to partially shield herself using Ohgi as cover.

The gaze, thankfully for Chigusa, was soon lifted and quickly transferred back onto Ohgi. "We're business associates," the green haired girl stated smoothly.

"I wasn't aware you went to school here," the Japanese man said.

"I don't," C.C. replied coolly. "I'm a little old for school. This uniform was a gift from a mutual friend of ours."

"Kallen?" Ohgi asked. "Then that means you're here on Z- on the boss' orders."

A faint smirk tugged at the immortal's lips at the man's words. "It should be noted, Mr. Ohgi," she said, striding slowly towards the couple, "That your... _CEO_... is not my boss. I do not take orders from him. That being said, he is the reason I am here; yes."

The Japanese man frowned. "If you're here already, then why am I the one checking Diethard's blueprints?"

C.C.'s response was to offer an uncaring shrug. "I am here for a different reason than you are, Mr. Ohgi. My mission is no concern of yours, just as your mission is no concern of mine," she told him. There was a pause, during which her gaze seemingly shifted to something over his shoulder. "Oh, this should be amusing," she murmured.

Before Ohgi could ask what she meant, a masculine voice called out from behind him, "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for pizza," C.C. replied coyly, watching intently as Lelouch approached the group. She was not disappointed in the Britannian teen's reaction when he finally noticed Ohgi.

Lelouch's eyes widened to a size C.C. had, up until that point, though was anatomically impossible, before his frantic gaze turned back to her. "I thought I told you to stay where you were," he hissed, as his expression morphed into one that screamed at her to play along. "We're already short-staffed as it is; we don't need people leaving their posts."

Having had her fun, C.C. took pity on the teen, replying simply with, "Of course, Vice President."

Stepping forwards, Ohgi decided to speak, "I'm terribly sorry for the trouble; it's just that I know her from somewhere else."

"How nice," Lelouch replied dismissively, eager to get the two away from each other.

Before he could come up with a suitable excuse to depart with C.C. in tow, however, the Japanese man spoke again. "Um... I know you're busy," Ohgi said, "But since you're the Vice President, perhaps you'd be able to help me. You see, my company is doing renovations here later this month, and we just want to confirm a few things about the blueprints we have."

That caught Lelouch's attention. It took him less than a second to piece together the reason Ohgi was here, having received the first half of Diethard's report less than an hour ago from Kallen.

Pointing in the direction of the shelter that housed the school's A/V controls, Lelouch politely replied, "I apologize, but I simply have too much on my plate at the moment. However, if you knock on the door of that building there and ask for someone named Milly, she'll be happy to help you. Just tell her Lelouch sent you."

Giving an appreciative nod and thanks, Ohgi quickly departed, along with the woman in his company. Lelouch let out a sigh of relief before quickly rounding on the green haired immortal.

"Are you trying to blow my cover?!" he demanded.

C.C., completely unphased by his outburst, stifled a yawn before coolly replying. "Calm down, boy. Too much stress can cause a heart attack, and it would be quite bothersome to have to look for a new accomplice."

Lelouch groaned in frustration, bringing both hands up to massage his temples. "Currently, you are the source of most of my stress," he berated. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I would get some pizza," C.C. retorted simply, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"Pizza?" Lelouch repeated blankly. "You risked my exposure over pizza? And what about your own cover? This place is crawling with media and military personnel. What if someone saw you? Do you really think all that risk is worth some pizza?"

"The largest pizza in the world, yes," the immortal acknowledged.

Lelouch barely contained the urge to smack himself in the face. "I'll make sure to save you a slice. Now get out of here before you bump into someone else you shouldn't. Now I'll have to come up with a cover story for you to explain to Ohgi."

"No need, he thinks I'm here for Kallen," the green haired woman replied,"If I were you, I'd be focusing more on the woman he was with."

Lelouch cocked his head to one side as he tried to bring up the image of the woman in his mind. He faintly recalled there being a woman with Ohgi, however, having been focusing the vast majority of his attention towards separating the Japanese man and C.C."

"What about her?" Lelouch questioned.

"She's Britannian," the immortal replied. "And with a complexion as dark as hers, the eye colour of hers is much too light. She's had surgery to change her eye pigmentation. I wonder; how does a Britannian woman that can afford such an expensive procedure wind up in the company of a Japanese rebel?"

Lelouch's expression turned thoughtful at the immortal's observation. "That is certainly an excellent question," he agreed.

C.C. cast a glance towards the giant oven that rested on the grass several meters away. "Pizza," she reminded the teen, before turning to leave. "Oh, and make sure it's a big slice," she added before striding away.

Unfortunately for Lelouch, his troubles were not yet over for the day. As one headache receded, another one emerged from the crowd in the shape of an irate looking redhead girl clutching a giant teddy bear.

"You're supposed to be somewhere else," he stated, intercepting Kallen as she attempted to push past.

"Yes, well, I left," she huffed angrily in response.

Pausing for a moment to take in her hostile demeanor, he decided not to press the issue. The fact that he had already put her in the Maid Café was pushing his luck as it was. He was not overly keen on learning what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a punch delivered by the ace of the Black Knights any time soon.

"What happened?" he asked instead.

Kallen grit her teeth as she responded, "I just had a chat with your sister."

"Nunally?" Lelouch inquired, raising his eyebrows.

Kallen shook her head. "No, your _other_ sister."

Lelouch's eyes widened. "She's here? Where?"

"How should I know?" Kallen replied defensively. A huff escaped her, followed by a more restrained sigh. "Sorry," she murmured, sounding suddenly very tired, "I just have a lot on the mind."

"You and me both," he replied quietly. Casting a glance at her slouching form, he decided to offer a proverbial olive branch, feeling slightly guilty for the job he had given her earlier. "Do you know how to use a sound board?" he asked.

Kallen shrugged. "More or less," she replied.

"Milly needs help running the speaker system. Why don't you go help her out?" he suggested. "It should be easy enough, and you'll be able to sit down."

"Thanks, I will," she replied.

Before she could take a step anywhere, however, a voice nearby shouted, "Look! It's Princess Euphemia!"

Lelouch and Kallen, along with everyone within earshot of the voice immediately turned to face the direction that the speaker had pointed. There, standing perched on the hand of Ashford's Ganymede, being held aloft above the crowd, was Euphemia.

The Princess turned to nod appreciatively at the Knighmare's cockpit, where Suzaku sat at the controls. She then turned to gaze out at the sea of people gathered around her.

"Excuse me; I have an announcement to make," she said, her voice carrying over the hushed murmur that had fallen on the crowd. "If possible, I'd like all members of the media currently gathered here to broadcast this around the area."

She paused for a moment, allowing time for her request to be carried out.

Then, deciding that enough time had passed, she spoke again, "As of the Monday of this upcoming week, I, as sub-vicereine of Area 11, will be declaring a Special Administrative Zone of Japan to be in effect."

0-0-0-0-0

The doors to Prince Schneizel's office unexpectedly burst open, revealing a very flustered General Bartley.

The prince, who had, up until that moment, been filling out paperwork, looked up from his desk to address the rotund man. "Is there something I can help you with, General?" he asked courtiously.

"I have some very important news, milord," the man replied, striding into the room, clutching a sheet of paper tightly in his hand.

The prince nodded, "If it's about Euphemia's Specially Administrative Zone, then I'm already aware. I was the one who gave her the green light on the project."

"No, it's not that," Bartley continued, slapping the paper in his hands down on Schneizel's desk. "It's about the forensics team you had commissioned a few days ago."

The prince beckoned the general to proceed. "I assume they found a match?" he inquired.

"Not a direct match, no," Bartley replied regretfully. "But, when going through DNA records from the Britannian military, past and present, they did find four near matches to one of the blood samples, suggesting that the owner is related to those matches."

"Who are the near matches?" Schneizel asked, leaning forward with interest.

"W-well," the general stammered, "One of them was you, my lord, as well as Princess Cornelia, Princess Marybell, and the late Empress Marianne."

The sound of Prince Schneizel's pen hitting the wooden surface of the desk as it slipped from his grip could be heard in the silence that ensued.

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	5. Allegory

**I'd like to take a moment to encourage anyone who regularly uses this site, and don't have one already, to make an account. It's free and easy, and it allows me to reply directly to anyone who has legitimate concerns or comments regarding the story.**

**As a bit of a heads up; this chapter brushes on some harsher themes that are a part of the realities of war. There's no in-depth, graphic description of any of these themes, however, so I won't be bumping up the rating on this fic.**

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**Chapter 5: Allegory**  
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It was Saturday morning, the day after the school festival, and, just as any other morning, the birds outside began chirping. The noise, joyous to most, was not appreciated by Kallen Stadtfeld.

With a groan, she rolled over in her bed, wrapping her pillow around her head in an attempt to stifle the sound. Now shielded from the chirping, the half Japanese girl felt herself slowly fade back into the clutches of sleep.

That was of course until her phone rang. With an angry shout, she launched her pillow at her dresser, atop which the offending device rested. The pillow made contact with the phone, sending it skidding to the floor.

It was then that Kallen realised her mistake. Now pillow-less, the girl, still not yet fully awake, stumbled blearily towards where the phone rested on the floor, still ringing.

"'Lo," she slurred, after having scooped the device off of the floor and placing it to her ear.

"Kallen," Ohgi's voice responded, sounding urgent.

Hearing his tone, she was instantly on full alert. "What is it?" she asked.

"I can't get hold of Zero," the Black Knight's second in command explained; "I've already contacted a few of the others. Diethard said that he last spoke to Zero yesterday, but no one's been able to reach him since."

"Yesterday," Kallen breathed, recalling Euphemia's announcement at the school festival.

The Japanese people in the crowd had rejoiced, while the Britannians openly expressed their disgust. Lelouch, however, had been nowhere to be seen when Kallen had turned to gage his reaction. For the remainder of the festival, the dark haired teen had been continuously elusive, and now, with Ohgi's phone call, Kallen was growing worried.

"I'll see if I can get in touch with him," she replied succinctly.

Ending the call, she quickly scrolled through the contacts on her phone. Arriving at Lelouch's name, she selected the number and quickly pressed the phone to her ear. Instead of ringing, her call went straight to voicemail.

She cursed under her breath. Wherever Lelouch was, his phone was shut off.

"Hey, Lelouch, it's Kallen. Call me back when you get this. It's important," was the recording she left.

With a huff, she pulled a shirt and a pair of pants out her closet, not caring about colour coordination, before nearly sprinting out of her bedroom door. Ignoring the calls of her step-mother, she exited Stadtfeld Manor. Hopping on her bike, she departed in the direction of Ashford Academy.

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"On a positive note, your over-all approval rating within the area has seen a rise amongst the numbers population," one of the many advisors before Princess Euphemia stated hopefully.

Euphemia allowed a dejected sigh to escape her, seeing as how she could not sag into her seat as she wished. It would be considered impolite, considering her current setting, to not maintain perfect posture.

She now sat at the head of a table that occupied much of one of the many conference rooms within Tokyo's Viceroy Palace. Seated to her right, where the absent Cornelia would have sat, was Prince Schneizel. Around the table, various bureaucrats and military leaders of the area took up residence, including General Darlton on her left. Behind her, Suzaku stood sigil, glaring harshly at a few of the advisors who had, over the course of the meeting on hand, took the opportunity, to direct very thinly veiled insults towards the princess for the 'poorly evaluated' plan for the SAZ, that was to be implemented 'against better judgement'.

"My approval rating does not concern me," the Princess stated clearly. "What negative consequences have resulted?"

One of the bureaucrats, a portly, elderly gentleman who had earned himself Suzaku's glare several times over the past half hour, cleared his throat.

"As is to be expected," he articulated, "The general Britannian population of the area, especially those from more esteemed families, have taken offense to what they, understandably, view to be a foolish, hormonal girl, unbalancing the rightfully established order of things."

In response to the man's words, Suzaku loudly let out a pointed cough.

"A lozenge, Mr. Kururugi?" the man who had spoken asked.

Knowing that the man was attempting to get a rise out of him by using an improper title to address him, Suzaku merely shook his head tersely, electing to remain silent.

Turning back to face the assembly, the bureaucrat continued, "Crowds have amassed around many Eleven owned business in protest. Those in the Saitama and Shinjuku ghettos appear to be especially popular. While I personally have no quarrels with the good citizens of Britannia exercising their rights to... peaceful... protesting, these protests have caused the daily economic output of the area to drop by an entire half of a percent. Of course, such fallout could have been anticipated by anyone capable of rational decision making."

"That's enough," General Darlton cut in, deciding to take action before Suzaku succumbed to the urge to leap over the table to assault the man. "Your words are encroaching on slanderous territory, and I will hear no more. The Princess has made her decision, and we must, as loyal Britannians, heed that decision whether we agree with it or not."

"Understood," the man grunted, grinding his teeth together.

Euphemia began chewing nervously on her lower lip at the news of the amassed protests. Glancing around the room in hopes of gleaning counsel from the expressions of the advisors, her gaze finally landed on Darlton.

Seeing her look, the General spoke, "I know you are worried, Princess, but for the time being, my advice is to not do anything. If we send in forces to disperse the protests, the Elevens in the area may see the police presence as an open act of aggression and retaliate. For now, we should merely monitor the situation from a distance. I can have the riot police on standby, in case one of the protests gets out of hand, if it will ease your mind."

"Thank you, General," responded Euphemia, giving the man a faint smile. Then, turning to face the rest of the room, she continued. "That concludes the last item on the agenda. Thank you all for coming on such relative short notice."

Understanding their dismissal, the advisors one by one stood and left. On his way out, the man who had been dressed down by General Darlton grumbled something that Euphemia couldn't quite hear, though she did manage to pick out the words "disregarding protocol" and "three days notice".

Eventually, the Princess was left behind with only Schneizel and Suzaku. Seeing that it was safe to do so, she visibly slumped in her seat. "That could have gone much better," she murmured, before sparing a glance at the seat Schneizel occupied. "I wish Sister Cornelia could have made it."

Schneizel, who had been staring out the window, his mind a hundred kilometers away, seemed to snap back to the present at his half sister's words.

"Cornelia has a lot on her mind," the prince explained in an attempt to placate the pink haired teen.

"She's been in her room since yesterday," Euphemia replied, allowing a frown to mar her features. "Is it because of me?"

"She's worried, Euphie," he answered, rising gracefully to his feet, "that's all. I'll go speak to her, and see if I can convince her to come speak to you."

"Thank you," she replied, watching as he left the room. As the door resealed itself, she stood and turned to face Suzaku, her frown still present. "I don't like this feeling of helplessness," she murmured, reaching her arms out to embrace the knight.

Suzaku held the girl in his arms, using his right hand to rub gentle circles on her back in a soothing motion. Eventually, Euphemia released the knight, allowing herself to take a step backwards so that she could look into his eyes.

"All of those people," she said, "I can't imagine how they must feel, seeing protesters outside of their homes and their businesses, all because I wanted to do the right thing. And I can't help any of them unless someone gets hurt."

Bringing a hand up to gently cup her cheek, Suzaku gave Euphemia a reassuring smile. "You already have helped them. You have given every single Japanese person hope for a better future; a future achieved without bloodshed."

Sighing softly, Euphemia leaned into Suzaku's touch. "I just don't want anyone to be hurt," she whispered. Then, as if a switch had been turned on, she straightened her posture; her face assuming a more determined countenance. "Suzaku," she said confidently, "I must ask you to do something that I have no right to."

Dropping his hand from her cheek to her shoulder, Suzaku trailed his fingers lightly down Euphemia's arm, stopping at her hand and grasping it with his own. "Name it," he replied.

"Would you go to the ghettos?" She asked. "Would you just... watch and make sure that nothing bad happens?"

Bowing deeply, before brushing a kiss on the back of her knuckles, Suzaku stood once more. "Yes, your highness."

"You missed," Euphemia said, letting a small grin spread on her lips.

"I did?" Suzaku asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"You did," the princess answered, before planting a light peck on his lips.

It was with a dazed expression, combined with a goofy smile that Suzaku left the room a moment later.

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It was nearly an hour and a half after having left her home that Kallen found herself pedalling her bike through the dilapidated streets of the Shinjuku ghetto.

The trip wouldn't have taken nearly as long had she not stopped first at Ashford. Yet the detour was necessary, or else she wouldn't have known where she needed to go.

When she had arrived at the student council clubhouse, Nunally had immediately, and very cheerfully invited the redhead in for tea. Kallen had politely declined the offer, instead asking to speak the chair-bound girl's sister.

The small girl had turned mildly downcast at the inquiry, informing Kallen that Lelouch had left early that morning, without stating where he was going.

C.C., however, after making her presence known, had bestowed the redhead with a single clue. "He's where it all began."

As Kallen had turned to leave, Nunally had taken hold of her hand. "Brother seemed upset about something. It's been bothering him since yesterday," the crippled girl had informed her, distress apparent on her visage. "If you do find him, could you find out what it is that's bothering him, and help him?"

Kneeling so as to be level with the young girl, Kallen had gently squeezed the small hand in her own. "I will," she had promised.

The journey through the ghettos was a depressing one. Bullet holes still pockmarked the concrete walls of half destroyed buildings. Chunks of plaster and shards of broken glass still littered the alleyways. It had been nearly a year since the slaughter at Shinjuku, and the scars still had yet to begin to heal over.

As she approached her destination, she noted the stilled construction crane perched atop skeletal form of the incomplete building. It seemed, at least, that some of the damage was being undone.

Glancing around first to make certain that no one was looking, she slipped nimbly under the yellow caution tape that spanned the gap between two of the girders that composed the building's outer shell. As she wandered through the scaffolding and piles of construction materials inside, she noted how eerily vacant the building was.

Noting the absence of a working elevator, she elected instead to climb the flight of stairs that the building offered; one of the few features that appeared to be completed.

It was at the very top flight of the stairs that she eventually found her quarry; perched on a plastic-wrapped bundle of iron rebar, gazing out over the lip of the concrete floor at the world below.

"This is the place," she said, staring out past Lelouch's head at the elevated train tracks below. "This is where you took out the Knightmares that were following me. This is where you gave us that train full of Sutherlands, and helped us win our first victory over Britannia."

At the sound of her voice, Lelouch visibly stiffened, before slowly relaxing once more. "It's nostalgic, isn't it?" he asked, not turning to face her.

Kallen didn't reply. Instead, she took a few tentative steps forwards. "Ohgi and the others have been trying to find you," she said. "They want to know what to do about the SAZ."

Lelouch chuckled mirthlessly. "That's what I'm trying to figure out myself," he replied, letting out a dejected sigh.

Silence reigned between the two, as Lelouch continued to gaze that the broken scene outside. Kallen held her distance. Wracking her brain, she struggled to come up with the correct thing to say.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she simply could not begin to guess what was on Lelouch's mind. How could she? He was always evaluation the outcomes of situations no one else would ever anticipate; always combing over the minutest of details that everyone else missed. His entire way of think was so utterly foreign to her own. For her, it had always been easier to tackle problems with her fists, rather than her words.

So, abandoning her train of thought, she approached Lelouch and took a seat on the pile of rebar beside him, in hopes that he would be the first to speak. It was next action, however, rather than his words that gave Kallen an opening, so to speak.

Shifting slightly, the Britannian pulled his arm into his lap, bringing an object that was clutched in his hand into view.

"Is that beer?" Kallen questioned, eying the bottle of amber liquid in his grasp.

Lelouch grunted in response, bringing the bottle up to eye level. "Premium draft, straight from the heart of Britannia," he read off of the label. "Someone left it here," he stated, setting the bottle down on the ground as he nodded in the direction of a nearby mini-fridge that was splattered with plaster and flecks of paint. Kallen assumed it belonged to the strangely absent construction workers.

Giving Lelouch a questioning look, she replied, "Didn't realize you were the drinking type."

"I'm not," the man responded earnestly. "The bottle isn't even opened."

Casting the bottle a fleeting glance, Kallen saw that the bottle was indeed still sealed. "So you found it, took it, but haven't opened it," she confirmed. "Why?"

"I've never tried beer before," he said, angling his head to face her. "Actually, I've never tasted anything alcoholic. Rivals once took a bottle of scotch from his father's collection, but Shirley found out and stopped us before either of us could open it. She wasn't too happy with either of us."

Kallen allowed herself a short laugh at the image of an irate Shirley yelling at the two boys.

"I've tried sake before," she told Lelouch. "Naoto let me try some on my fifteenth birthday. I haven't had any since."

"You didn't like it?" the dark haired teen inquired.

Kallen shrugged. "It wasn't bad," she replied. "I ended up drinking a bottle and a half. It turns out too much alcohol makes me think everything is a hundred times funnier than it really is. I couldn't stop laughing the entire night. Hell, I even laughed at Tamaki's jokes! The next morning, I'm not sure if it was my head or my stomach that hurt more."

For a moment, her eyes seemed to glaze over as she lost herself in the memory; a rare smile present on her lips.

Then, her smile fell, replaced with a frown. "It was a week later that it happened," she whispered. "Ohgi came over to the house that morning and knocked on the door. The way he looked at me when I opened the door... I don't think I'll ever forget it. Just one look and I knew..." she stopped, clenching her jaw as tight as she could.

She would not cry; not now, not in front of Lelouch. She was stronger than that! She was Kallen Kozuki; ace of the Black Knights, for crying out loud! She couldn't cry!

"Tell me about him," Lelouch said calmly, wrenching her from her internal admonishment.

Kallen's back went rigid. He wanted her to talk about Naoto? He wanted her to speak of the dead brother she had so desperately tried to forget was gone and would never return? He wanted her to dig into scars that had only now begun to heal over?

It was then that she noticed the expression on the dark haired teen's face. He looked lost. For the first time since she had met him, even from before she knew him to be Zero, he seemed to lack his usual confidence that bordered on arrogance.

"Where to begin?" she asked rhetorically. "I guess a big thing about Naoto was that he loved music. It didn't matter what genre; classical, pop, folk, heavy metal... he loved it all. He would always go in to thrift shops and garage sales and buy all the albums they had. He always said that he was rescuing abandoned CDs and giving them a home; crazy as it sounds."

She paused, running her fingers tentatively through her hair. In her haste to leave that morning, she hadn't bothered styling it into its usual spiky shape. Not that it would have been a smart idea to appear on Ashford's campus with the hair she was famous for among the Black Knights.

Grabbing a strand and absentmindedly twirling it between her fingers, she continued. "He started spiking his hair when he formed the resistance group Ohgi and the others were a part of. He said it was a way to look more intimidating in battle. I never understood the logic, but I started spiking my hair too; a way to keep him close, you know? He was the one who convinced me to dye my hair red."

"You dye your hair?" Lelouch asked, having been genuinely taken by surprise by the revelation.

Kallen shrugged noncommittally. "Yeah, my natural colour's a shade of brown. I guess Japanese people, even halfs like me, don't have much variation in their hair colour."

Lelouch nodded slowly, recalling something he had heard in Biology class about dominant and recessive alleles. It made sense that dark hair, like the usually shade that the Japanese had, was a dominant trait.

"He never would let me fight," Kallen nearly whispered. "I begged him to let me join his group, but he said no every time. It's about the only thing I was ever mad at him for. Especially afterwards; I figured that if I had been there, maybe I could have saved him."

Feeling the need to occupy her hands, she began to distractedly pick at the thin sheet plastic that held the rebar pile beneath her and Lelouch together in a neat bundle.

"For a few years," she murmured, "I would sneak out of the house and go to the abandoned warehouse that the group used as their base. They always kept a Knightmare or two that they had managed to steal. I would spend the entire night just practicing; hoping that one day I'd get good enough that Naoto would let me join."

With one hand, she grabbed the bottle that rested at Lelouch's feet, pulling her knife from her pocket with the other. Using the dull side of the blade to pry the lid off, she took a swig of the beverage, before immediately spitting it out.

"Ugh! It tastes like mouldy buffalo piss," she sputtered, glaring at the offending drink.

Setting the bottle to the side, she allowed her thoughts to trickle little by little back to Naoto. If he was still alive, would he have joined the Black Knights? What would he have thought about Zero? What would he have thought about the SAZ?

As her head began to swim with questions that would forever be unanswered, she didn't notice as Lelouch picked up the bottle she had discarded. Taking a sip, his face scrunched in disgust as the liquid hit his tongue.

"That certainly is fowl," he muttered before setting the beverage down. Then, sparing a glance at Kallen, he noticed the far-off expression she held. "He wanted to protect you," he stated in, what he hoped was, a comforting tone.

Apparently, Kallen didn't take it as such. "I'm a big girl," she scoffed. "I can handle myself."

"That you are," the Britannian continued, "but no matter what; you were still his younger sister. It was part of his nature as an older brother to want to make sure you were kept out of danger. Trust me; as a fellow overprotective brother, I know."

Fleetingly, an image of a brightly smiling Nunally flashed through Kallen's mind.

'_Brother seemed upset about something. It's been bothering him since yesterday'_, the sightless girl's voice said, echoing through her head.

"Yesterday," she whispered inaudibly, as another voice replaced Nunally's.

'_As of the Monday of this upcoming week, I, as sub-__vicereine of Area 11, will be declaring a Special Administrative Zone of Japan to be in effect.'_

"Do you think the SAZ will work?" Kallen asked suddenly, taking Lelouch by surprise.

Folding his hand under his chin, Lelouch let his eyes wander to the streets below, falling on a crowd of people gathered before a small building a few blocks away. "See those people there?" he asked, gesturing to the crowd. "Those people are all Britannians; people who are angry at the idea that the Japanese have a chance to be treated equally. Right now, they are taking out their anger on the Japanese man who runs that store by blocking anyone from going inside."

Kallen nodded, observing the mob of protesters. "They're trying to put the Japanese 'back into their place,'" she growled. "They're taking away the man's ability to make a livelihood."

"Exactly," Lelouch confirmed. "Now what happens when there is an entire city full of Japanese people being treated equally?"

"They'll protest there too," the redhead answered. "They'll try to take away the rights that the Japanese have there too."

"Someone will eventually take it to the extreme," Lelouch continued. "They'll attack the Japanese people, and when the Japanese people defend themselves, it will be seen as aggression towards Britannia."

Kallen's eyes widened with realization. "Britannia will send in soldiers in response. It'll be Shinjuku and Saitama all over again. Do you think that's what Euphemia was planning?"

There was a beat of silence, before Lelouch let out a dark laugh. "That is undoubtedly the last thing on her mind," he answered. "Euphemia is just as gentle of a soul as Nunally. She truly wants the Japanese people to be happy, even if her plan for the SAZ is short-sighted."

'_Believe it or not, Kallen, there are those in Britannia that want to help'. _

The princess' words echoed in her head, causing her form to slump. "Then what do we do?" she asked.

Lelouch rose to his feet, mulling the possibilities over in his mind. Then, deciding on a course of action, he turned to Kallen. "For now," he replied, "we will allow the SAZ to continue. There are too many Japanese people that support Euphemia to go against her. Instead, the Black Knights will wait until the inevitable happens, and when it does, we will do as we always have."

"Protect the weak from those with power," Kallen replied, a determined glint in her eyes.

"Thank you, Kallen," the dark haired teen said, allowing his Zero persona to relax. "I suppose having someone to speak to helped clarify my course of action. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting in a few hours to prepare for."

"Meeting?" Kallen asked, "With who?"

"With _whom_," Lelouch corrected, ignoring the scowl Kallen gave him in response. "The meeting is with a potential financial backer who recently contacted the Black Knights," he answered simply, before turning and leaving.

Left alone, Kallen cast a glance around the half-finished room as she absentmindedly reached for the beer bottle Lelouch had left behind. "Oh yeah, buffalo piss," she murmured, after nearly gagging on the sip she took without though.

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Angered shouts, threats of violence, and racial slurs filled the air around Suzaku as he observed one of the many protests in Shinjuku from a distance.

As he watched the chaos, balling his hands into fists so tight his fingernails drew blood, he resisted the urge to lash out. Technically, nothing illegal was happening. Numbers were not protected by the same rights as Britannians, and just about anything short of murder was fair game, according to any court of law.

If he acted out now, if he so much as stepped out of line and told the crowd to stand down, the fallout would be incomprehensible. While he didn't care too much about his own public image, as her knight, his reputation was tied to Euphemia's. If he did something that the public didn't agree with, it would be Euphemia who would feel the brunt of the discontent. So, he endured.

It was just as he was about to leave to search out a different crowd of protesters, that something moving caught his attention out of his corner of his eye.

Turning to face the source of movement, he watched as a Japanese girl dressed in rags, no older than he was, stepping into a nearby back alley, nervously casting glances over her shoulder as she did so. Alarms immediately went off in the knight's head as he realized, just as the girl disappeared from view, that she had something clutched to her chest.

Stealthily making his way to the mouth of the alley, he flattened his back against the brick wall of one of the buildings that bordered the opening. Craning his neck, he peeked in to watch the girl.

He managed to catch a glimpse of the girl as she lowered whatever it was she had been holding, hands trembling, into a dumpster, before cautiously backing away.

The Japanese man's eyes widened, as he came to a single terrifying conclusion. The object she had just placed in the dumpster must be a bomb! Unless they had a serious case of paranoia, no one was that edgy when they threw out trash.

The girl clearly wasn't very experienced; she drew far too much attention. Perhaps she was acting under duress; someone else was forcing her to plant the bomb. He'd seen the same thing a few times before; it wasn't uncommon before Zero showed up for terrorists to threaten innocent civilians with families into becoming suicide bombers.

For the time being though, it didn't matter. He could figure out who was truly behind the act later; for now, he had to get rid of the bomb before it went off, taking out the crowd that was gathered less than a block away.

"Freeze!" he yelled, whirling himself into the alleyway.

The girl did in fact freeze, spinning to stare at Suzaku like a deer caught in headlights. Then, as her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, she spun on her heel and began sprinting in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately for her, he was much faster, easily catching up to her in seconds. Pinning her to the ground, he attempted to restrain her as she began squirming around, desperate to wriggle free.

To Suzaku's surprise, the girl began to whimper. "No please!" she choked out through a shuddering sob. "Not again, please don't!"

Ignoring her protests, he removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt, and quickly handcuffed her to a nearby signpost. Seeing that she was secure for the time being, he left her and approached the dumpster. The bomb was top priority.

However, as he approached the rusted metal bin, he heard a sound that he hadn't expected to hear. Muffled, high-pitched wailing could be heard from within the dumpster, mixing with the sobs of the girl behind him.

His entire body went cold, as if his veins simultaneously turned to ice, as he came to the lip of the bin. There, atop a heap of putrid food, wrapped in linen do soiled, Suzaku doubted it had ever been washed, was a crying baby.

Carefully lifting the child out of the dumpster, he carefully took note of its features. Though its eyes held the distinctive tapered shape of the Japanese, the colour of the iris was a much lighter shade of brown than was normal. Like its eyes, the short tuft of hair atop its head was far lighter than was usual for the Japanese. Its complexion was pale, and for a moment, Suzaku was reminded of Kallen.

It was then that he realized that, like his redheaded classmate, the child was only half Japanese.

Turning towards the huddled over, sobbing form of the girl he had handcuffed, he slowly approached her.

"Why?" he asked, kneeling before her; the child still cradled in his arms.

"Keep that thing away from me!" the girl snarled, reeling away from the baby, as if expecting it to burst aflame at any given moment.

"Relax," the Japanese man said in as gentle a voice as he could muster. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to know why you left a baby in a dumpster."

The girl left out a feral growl when Suzaku made a move to place a placating hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch me!" she shouted, before lapsing into further sobs. "Not again! Please!"

Pulling his hand back to himself, he allowed the girl to cry. She clung desperately to the signpost her hands had been secured to, as if it was the only thing protecting her from an unimaginable fate. Minutes passed, and her tears continued to streak her face, and her knuckles turned white from the grip she maintained on the pole.

Eventually, her weeping subsided, and her grip relaxed. Her entire body slumped over; nearly all of her energy exhausted.

"Please, just leave me alone," she whispered hoarsely; her voice muffled as her head was directed away from him. "What more could you Britannians possibly take from me?"

Again, Suzaku said nothing, allowing the girl to vent her anger and frustrations. After a few moments, the girl shifted, turning her body around to face him. Her expression morphed from self-pity to recognition, then to anger.

"You're that lap-dog to that princess," she hissed. "I've seen you in the news before. How does it feel, selling your homeland and your people away, just so that the princess would spread her legs for you?"

"Princess Euphemia isn't like that," Suzaku replied coolly, reigning in his anger. "I want what's best for Japan; that's why I serve her. She wants what's best for Japan too."

The girl's response was to spit in Suzaku's direction. "Yeah, I've heard about her little SAZ project. It hardly changes anything."

"It's a chance for Britannia to repair the damage they've done," he replied vehemently. "It's a chance to-,"

"Undo the damage?!" the girl cried incredulously. "Does it bring back my parents? Does it bring back my sister?"

"You can't-," Suzaku attempted to cut in, only for the girl to continue.

"Every time I close my eyes, I remember the look on the face of the Britannian soldier that pinned me down nine months ago. I remember feeling so powerless; so utterly terrified. I remember the overwhelming stench of his breath as he breathed on me, and he..." She stopped, biting hard enough to draw blood. "And now I'm left with that thing!" she shouted, glaring harshly at the baby that, despite all the noise she had been making, had fallen asleep in Suzaku's arms. "As if the memories weren't enough of a reminder! Does the SAZ take it all away?"

"No," Suzaku replied calmly, "But it is a start. It doesn't get rid of the past, but it does give people a chance for a better future."

Carefully, transferring the child gently between his arms, Suzaku removed the Jacket of his knight's uniform. Removing the pin above the left breast pocket first, he then draped the jacket over the girl's shoulders.

"Japan deserves that chance, don't you think?" he asked, extracting a key from his belt, and quickly unlocking the cuffs that held the girl to the signpost.

Tenderly massaging her wrist, the girl looked up at Suzaku with an unreadable expression.

"You're free to go," the knight instructed.

"Thanks," she mumbled, before slowly standing on wobbly legs.

Suzaku watched as she slowly wandered away, every so often casting a glance back at him, until she disappeared from view. He stood, rooted to the spot, until a gurgling noise came from the bundle in his arms.

"What do I do with you?" he wondered aloud, staring down at the recently woken child.

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**This chapter and the next one were originally meant to be one whole chapter. But, after having only finished half of the chapter, and being 5.5K words in, I decided to cut it into two. So, enjoy a slightly earlier update than I expected.**


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